PMD: Neverending Nightmare(RP)

[LKWayvern]

Post

Sign up here! (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?10698-PMD-Neverending-Nightmare(SU))

~~~

RGS, FHS, LVS, and PSS Leaders+Betas
Fractured Heavens Safehaven
ARPers: Gef, Neo Emolga, Alphys

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Fractured Heavens Safehaven wasn't really designed with comfort in mind.
It was designed for security and safety, really. The walls appeared to be made of solid steel, the floors made of concrete, and there weren't chairs so much as steel benches built into the walls. Everything was shades of silver and grey, and it honestly resembled a prison.

Some may say that the personality of the leader of Fractured Heavens matched the appearance of her Safehaven quite well, even though she had had no say in designing or building the Safehaven. She was direct, logical, and most agreed she was an effective leader, even if she constantly forgot to be polite. Similar to how the walls of the Safehaven were sturdy and protective, even if they were rather drab and dull.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The aforementioned leader, Yuko the delphox, was leaning forwards onto her wand. It was really large enough to be called a staff, but she stubbornly called it a wand anyways. The female Delphox's earfur was braided, coming down to just below her shoulders. She wore a suitlike jacket that lacked sleeves and allowed for freedom of movement in both her tail and legs, colored in contrasting shades of dark red and light orange. Her long, warm fur was groomed immaculately, and her piercing green eyes darted about the room as she observed the other leaders and the scavenger teams they had brought. She tapped her staff against the floor almost unconsciously, a sign that she was impatient to start the meeting.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

On the bench behind her, Yuko's beta, Isa the weavile, reclined in a relaxed manner, a knowing smirk pasted across his face. He wore a loose-fitting lab coat and a dark red belt, both of which stood out against his dark blue-green fur. The dark sunglass-like safety glasses he wore kept other Pokemon from seeing his eyes. He seemed more patient than his leader.

In one area of the room sat the members from Relic Graveyard Safehaven. The leader, Crownless, seemed to be the single most patient of the leaders currently in the room. His arms were crossed, the shard of nevermeltice that hung around his neck resting peacefully against the heavy dark purple armor he wore. His deep brown eyes briefly met Yuko's roving green ones, before he closed them.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

His betas, on the other hand, were nowhere near as patient as he was. Aurora the swoobat, in charge of communication and the records of the members of the Safehaven, was sitting in the corner of the room, whispering into her headset. Every so often her sapphire eyes would light up, or she'd smile slightly. When her gaze lighted on the other Psychic type, Yuko rolled her eyes slightly, and huffed in exasperation.

In another area of the room, two betas were whispering together excitedly. The Silver the pachirisu from Relic Graveyard seemed to be enjoying talking to Gleam the Rotom from Last Vestige quite a lot. Both betas were known for enjoying battling a bit too much, and for being quite powerful, so a battle, or at the very least a sparring match, between the two after the meeting seemed to be a certainty at this point.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The leader from Last Vestige reclined against the other beta. Brenton the ambipom smiled faintly, watching Gleam and Silver planning their match. It was common knowledge that Brenton and Silver were practically brothers and cared for each other quite a bit. Gleam was, uncontestedly, the more powerful of the two, though. Mainly because Brenton had somehow figured out a way to allow the rotom to possess a feral golurk while fighting, carrying heavy loads, or just flying. The golurk, Adflatus, was more of a pet, but still considered an honorary beta of Last Vestige Safehaven, since Gleam spent so much time inside him.

The leader and betas from Last Vestige Safehaven were considered one of the two weirdest groups of Pokemon allowed to be in charge of Safehavens.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Speaking of the other weird group of Pokemon in charge of a Safehaven, the Cloudview Cliffs group was running late. That was unusually of them. Usually they were the first group to arrive.

Tromp! Tromp! Tromp!

Attention turned to the door to the room. Heavy, rushed footsteps could be heard in the hallway beyond it. The door swung open, as more Safehaven members strode into the room.

The commanding presences of Crim the ninetales, leader of the Persevering Spirit Safehaven, and Knight the zoroark, her beta, immediately filled the room. Their arrival was also announced by the chiming of the soothe bell attached to an anklet on Crim's left foreleg.

The pure white ninetales swept her many tails neatly around her as she sat down. She wore a red cloak that managed to cover her back and legs, but not her tails.

Her beta, on the other hand, had even darker fur than a normal zoroark. His mane was cut extremely short, and he adjusted the white-blue scarf around his neck.

"Forgive the delay," Knight spoke. "We may now begin."

Yuko sighed, tapping her staff again. "Well, it is true that you usually are the last to arrive. However, this meeting seems to be the exception. Cloudview Cliffs is running very late."

Knight frowned. "That's... unusual. I wonder what could be the matter."

"That's what I just said..." Yuko huffed. She turned to Aurora. "Swoobat Aurora. Make that headset of yours useful and get Perish's attention."

Aurora slipped the headset around her neck, turning her attention back to Yuko. "I'm sorry, what? I didn't hear."

Yuko dug the heel of her hand into her forehead, sighing in desperation. "I suppose gossiping with your friends is more important than urgent matters. So sorry for interrupting you, continue chatting."

Aurora shot a death glare at Yuko. "Excuse me, Delphox Yuko, but I was speaking to my son about distributing missions to our scavenger teams. Perish and her betas, for all their eccentricity, are both powerful and intelligent. And, frankly, more likable than you."

"If Cloudview Cliffs is late," Crim said, in a rather annoyed tone of voice, "then that is their problem. We can start without them."

"Do we start without you when you're late, pretty much every other time?" Silver asked Crim.

"No, you don't, and we are grateful for that," Knight spoke, nudging Crim. "However, if this is really as important as Yuko made it out to be..."

"It is," Yuko confirmed.

"Then starting sooner may be wiser," Knight concluded.

"And if this really is that important, it may also be better to wait for Perish and her betas to arrive," Crownless spoke, opening his eyes.

"Hey, if they're really running that late, I can take Adflatus down and pick them up. We know Fly, it shouldn't take that long!" Gleam piped up.

Brenton crossed his arms. "...Let's give Cloudview Cliffs a bit longer, and then you can take Adflatus and see what's keeping them," he said.

"Fine..." Gleam sighed.

Isa continued smirking in his spot, crossing his arms.

~~~

CCS Leader and Betas
Fullmoon Highway
ARPers: The Nonexistent Tazz

"The other groups," Perish spoke, "Are going to be so angry at us."

"It's not my fault!" Starr whined.

"It's not anyone's fault," Clara said.

At the very last minute before Perish and her betas had been about to leave, one of the rookie scavenger teams had returned from a mission that had gone rather poorly. Clara had been the Safehaven's medic before she was a beta, and her instinct to get to work on an injured member of her Safehaven had immediately kicked in, leading to Perish and Starr being incapable of leaving until Clara was finally statisfied.

The entire time, Starr had been dashing back and forth yelling about how the current medic was perfectly capable of handling the situation themselves, and the group needed to get moving or they'll be disastrously behind schedule. Perish managed to distract the linoone about what missions he had been assigning the more senior scavenger teams.

It was about an hour and a half before the gourgeist, azumarill, and linoone could start travelling. Starr, predictably, began racing down Fullmoon Highway as quickly as he possibly could. Perish and Clara allowed him to do that. He would, hopefully, expend a lot of energy while running and be less fidgety in the actual meeting.

While Starr raced ahead, Perish and Clara casually chatted. If one ignored the swirling blood red clouds several miles above the desolate landscape, one could almost say it was a pleasant day. It was a rather comfortable temperature today, which made the journey rather nice.

Perish and Clara's discussion was interrupted by Starr screaming loudly. The two Pokemon exchanged worried glances, before picking up the pace to find out what was the matter.

The matter seemed to be that there was a blaziken pinning Starr down, with a scolipede standing nearby.

Perish sighed, crossing her fluffy arms. "The Legendaries seem particularly angry at us today, Clara."

The azumarill nodded, putting her paws on her hips. "Starr's really going to be annoyed if this takes up more time..."

"Hey, we don't have to take up that much time," the blaziken said. "We've got the stuff your hyperactive friend here had in his bag. Just give us the stuff in your bag, Azumarill and... That locket of yours, Gourgeist."

Perish gave the blaziken a sour expression. "...The stuff in the bag? It was a bit expensive, but we've give it. This locket? Stars above, no."

"We weren't asking you for it," the scolipede hissed. "We are taking it."

"And I wasn't asking you not to take it," Perish responded. "I am keeping it."

"You all have a type disadvantage, and your friend here went down easy. You don't have a choice," the scolipede snorted in response.

Perish stuck out her tongue, narrowing her burning eyes. "Try. Me."

[Neo Emolga]

Team Lockdown
Relic Graveyard Safehaven

Magnum had been urged to attend Yuko's meeting after Crownless told him about the message he had gotten. There was mention of a "golden opportunity," but the rest of the details were vague. In any case, they were serving as additional protection for Crownless. When it came to Team Lockdown, only one member respected it. The others were in contempt that no agenda or details were made. What was even worse was the delay.

"This is a damn waste of time," Zilch thought to herself.

The brutal Zoroark assassin didn't see escort detail for Crownless as a mission. To her, an escort mission wasn't a mission; it was a painful, useless errand. She felt Crownless was perfectly capable of handling himself, so she felt it was pointless for her to be here. Not to mention she didn't understand why Yuko couldn't just come out with it and explain what the meeting was for in the first place. It was definitely not the way she would have handled things if she had been in charge. She would have kept it short and to the point, and she certainly wouldn't have waited for the laggards to show up.

In the meantime, Magnum was only there because Crownless told him what was going on, and felt he and his team was high enough on the food chain to attend and that chances were good they might be affected. But while Crownless was patient, Magnum wasn't and the Typhlosion didn't show the same kind of respect for Cloudview that Crownless showed. Zilch certainly didn't respect them the same way either. Apex the Emolga was muttering impatient remarks to himself, while Sledge the Aggron simply kept to himself out of respect for authority. It seemed it was only the Aggron that observed the value of being cordial in the presence of his superiors.

Zilch was made even more irate when she had overheard one of the groups was running late, and the suggestion to start without them being denied by Yuko herself grated her nerves. What was even worse was how they were simply discussing Cloudview Cliffs tardiness and didn't drop details about what the meeting was supposed to be about. Zilch simply counted all the things she could have been doing instead and she was coming extremely close to becoming vocal about it in front of everyone and not just her teammates. And yet, it was Crownless who suggested waiting for Cloudview Cliffs to arrive if the meeting was that important. The fact her own Safehaven Leader suggested that was extremely frustrating to her.

"Why the hell are they taking so damn long?" Zilch muttered to Apex with a scowl. "For god's sake, I'm not getting any younger here."

"I wish we'd just start without them," Apex the Emolga sighed. "If they're late and don't get the details, that's their own damn fault. They were stupid for not being ready and not compensating for delays."

Meanwhile, Magnum kept looking up, thinking about all the things his team could have been accomplishing during this delay. It bothered him a lot, because to him, time was a resource and here they were, wasting it on something they weren't even sure would be useful information to them. He couldn't help but shoot a look toward Yuko, wondering exactly why she didn't at least give everyone some kind of heads up or agenda about what was to be discussed so they would all know what to expect. Instead, it was completely out of the blue, and Magnum preferred to go in prepared rather than improvise if it was possible.

"There has to be some kind of consequence for being this late," Magnum muttered to Crownless. "Otherwise no one is going to be taking these meetings seriously."

"It may be beyond their control," Sledge compassionately told Magnum after overhearing his comment to the Nidoking. "At least give them the benefit of the doubt, although I would like to know the reason for this delay so it doesn't happen a second time."

"They're goddamn farmers, Sledge," Magnum spat back at him, keeping the discussion quiet amongst themselves. "They're by far the least important Safehaven in existence, and I bet this is over something stupid. Anything they could do, Persevering Spirit probably already does better. And I already have my doubts whatever this meeting is about even involves them."

Sledge was silent. He knew Magnum's anger would pass over in time, but for the moment, it was best to let the team's commander simply voice his contempt quietly among his peers rather than keep it bottled up only to explode into something worse that the whole assembly would overhear. But as they waited longer and longer, Sledge was becoming more concerned about what was keeping Cloudview so long. He could understand his commander's frustrations. Being kept in the dark about the meeting's details and forcing Team Lockdown to sit idly for so long was disastrous to a team that was largely focused on preparation and communication. Sledge knew Magnum already had a lot on his mind and took pride in his work, and this occurrence undermined everything Team Lockdown was about.

"They're gonna owe me a lot of favors for this crap," Zilch growled to her teammates. "You waste my time, that's your debt to me and it will be paid in full plus interest or they'd better not even dream of asking for my help with anything. And the rest of you don't have a backbone if you disagree."

"Trust me, I wouldn't disagree with that one bit," Apex sighed. "I'm losing respect for Cloudview by the second. Thanks to them, this lost time is going to need to be cut out of our and everyone else's plans."

With a hard sigh, Magnum took a glance toward the door. If it was going to take too much longer, he was going to request a dismissal from Crownless himself, because he knew he couldn't afford to have his entire team miss their patrol watch for this long, among all the other things his team needed to address. He figured he could simply request a meeting summary after the fact if that's what it came down to...

[The Nonexistent Tazz]

((There is exactly one reason they survived their forray into Kaelus, and it is filthy, stinking luck. Also, yes, there is a language barrier the size of a sun here: Those lines are bits from the conversation between the Bandits and the Cloudview Cliff leaders, while the bandits are demanding the wand from Pheobe. As for what they would sound like to you...Imagine Japanese. Yep.))

Hyperion/Pheobe/Oceanus
Fullmoon Highway
Cloudview Cliff Safehaven

High above, a Pidgeot flew, but not too high, not daring to inch near those menacing red clouds. The horrid streaks of ship-corpses and blood in the oceans around this region was a bad omen enough; the red menace above was likely just as dangerous, and this Pidgeot was not an idiot. He had finished scouting out the immediate area for a safe zone. He hadn't really done anything like this before but it was NOT his choice: Either this or just attempt to camp by the oceans that held that insane Wailord. If it WAS a Wailord, certainly didn't look like it. His eyes managed to catch no signs of real, unmolested civilization for several miles, but definitely did see the magnificent highway-two streaks of gray unlike anything else. Most worrisome was the commotion up ahead-signs of life. Sapient life, not those unfortunate meals of Krabby before.

"...Ve Styfe ul ve kig? Ti was a bii hecana, hul ichink. Veln locket? Strata nah."

"Hul Ortahat eheth inc fur ti. Hu cana ihcinaink."

"Und I Ortahat ehteh inc ort to take ti. Inu bratah ti."

Completely foreign. Communication would be nigh impossible. It took him very long to learn language properly, he wouldn't be learning a brand new one in a day. That being said, the gist could be conveyed just by the scene of it all The two menacing looking brutes were demanding something else of the other two, and given the position of the dead-looking Linoone it appeared they were bartering life and limb for it. It wasn't looking to go well.

Of course, that was their business and the plan was obviously going to be not to be involved. The real issue, however, were that they were blocking the north path, and rather they go on the path than in the wilds-meaning the alternative path to the east was the best fitted for their purposes.

It would just be evasion of what appeared to be an imminent scruff, yes. That was the plan. He couldn't help, Pheobe couldn't help, and Oceanus...Eh, that was 50/50 but he would prefer the massive brute stayed around as preventative measures in case they came their way.

Thus, Hyperion relocated the border between the beach and the road, and thus landed, fairly assured that he had saw no other beings. "There's some standoff going on up to the north. The Southern road curves to the east but I haven't scouted that far, but that's clear of anything. I suggest that way." Hyperion said.

"A standoff? How far away?" Pheobe asked.

"How many?" Oceanus asked almost immediatley thereafter.

Hyperion merely sighed. "Neither matters, we're not going that way. They don't even speak our language, we would only create a worse matter for ourselves."

"We don't have to speak, she can use telepathy." Oceanus stated, like it was the most important fact in the world-it was true, of course, and Hyperion hadn't considered that, but that wasn't the real consideration.

"Of the three of us that can do much of anything, I'm admittently a pathetic fighter and the girl is underage-you'd risk two able bodies capable of hunting for fighting in a standoff that you barely understand the situation of?" Hyperion asked, getting mildly annoyed. "We don't know who they are-standoff between rival bandits, just some barter that went heated a bit, and who knows what they'll think of us? And that presumes we can even chat before they start killing us!"

"That is a good point, but we could learn quickly, and better we get allies than just keep being in the dark about those red clouds, and any way of escape..." Pheobe asked. "We don't want to take shelter in a cave that turns out to be a Mystery Dungeon..."

"...Mystery Dungeon?" Oceanus inquired. Hyperion and Pheobe jointly sighed, rather tired of explaining what was, to them, a rather well-understood fact, while Oceanus stumbled in the dark.

"Hoi!" A voice called, from within the nearby treeline. All three heads turned and oh gorillas noooo. Hyperion mentally cursed his luck-it appeared he had been tailed by some watchful eyes from the ground.

The voice in question appeared to be another pair of bandits: One a rather savage-looking Ampibomb with a bow drawn via tails and a blood-red bandanna covering his mouth, while the other was, heavens no, a massive Machamp, with two hands and the poorly-stiched together pelts of some unfortunate ferals draped across his chest, looking to unloose the iron-made belt that kept the beast's uncontrollable strength in check. A threat indeed. "Ve Wyndus! Hambahrahnati ur die!" The Machamp said, with the authority of the pirate at swordpoint, pointing one hand at the unfortunate Braxien.

The Ampibomb muttered something else, using his (completely free) hands to point at the Braxien, saying quite a bit in a fast moment. the Machamp's eyes visibly glittered with greed and bloodlust, and added some equally indesciperable passage, again pointing at the Braxien. Her posture faltered a little as understanding shot across her face.

"Pheobe, what is it?" Hyperion asked.

"I think they are planning on skinning me...S-skinning me!" Pheobe said, trying to compose herself.

"Grrrrr..." Oceanus breathed. Hyperion was quite aghast himself-skinning Ferals was one thing, but skinning a Sapient was another. The two others, still at the ready and growing impatient even now, were muttering to themselves more.

Joyous, a powder keg! Just what he wanted to avoid. Hyperion had gotten out of worse than this-if only because it was three-on-two as opposed to one-on-two. There had to be some plan, as neither party seemed to really understand each other's language at all.

A moment.

The Ampibomb reached for the ground, careful not to let his eyesight nor his bow falter away from the group, and picked up a stick. He proceeded to make exaggerated gestures. "Ve. Wyndus." He said, slowly, as if trying to hammer in understanding into the Braxien who already understood exactly what was going on.

"...Just give them the wand, Pheobe, it isn't worth life. They'll be placated by it...It was quite valuable-looking..." Hyperion said, calmly.

"They want the wand AND my Pelt." Pheobe responded. Hyperion decided that, since that was basically unacceptable right now, that they'd try to pull a simple runner job.

"...Draw it, as if to give it to them, and I'll use a Sand Attack on them. It'll distract them, and then we bolt to the south road. North road and we'll be cornered." Hyperion said.

"The Machamp knows about another group on the south road, they'll catch us if we go that way, and their base is directly east...They don't know about the Northroad. Unrelated." Pheobe said.

"Ve! Wyndus!" The Ampibomb demanded, pulling the string back ever so harder, but not letting loose.

"OK, OK, but we'll still be running towards them and hoping the commotion-"

IN all of this, the Bandits were far too fixated upon their prize to be, and Hyperion and Pheobe upon they, that almost no-one paid attention to the burly Oceanus looking more and more murderous by the second. Until the Ampibomb was suddenly just gone in a flash of light-blue and chill, a Blizzard, sending him into the trees. All remaining heads turned around fast-Oceanus was panting but it was clear his target's back was stuck to the ground by ice. The Arrow had flew by, wide of all targets. The Ampibomb was mouthing up a storm of what could be said to be cussing or calling for help.

Hyperion took this as his cue. Fast thinking was good thinking, as was Hyperion's cloud of hastily-kicked up dust. The Machamp shielded his eyes at the ocular assault, but it was enough, as Hyperion was flapping backwards, Pheobe was running away, and Oceanus-oh.

Oceanus got on his hind legs, pulled a Seamitar, and simply shoved it straight into the Machamp's neck while he was blinded. The head was not so cut loose, but nevertheless the fatal mark had been laid.

"FLY YOU FOOL! WAIT YOU CAN'T AUGH JUST GO!" Hyperion shouted, franticly, catching things-figures-out of the corner of his eye as he turned, approaching the woodside. Oceanus appeared to listen, back on all fours and running, full-speed, towards the Northroad, along with Pheobe, away from Hyperion and the east-augh!

Hyperion swerved, and thankful he did for an arrow flew by, wide again but still all-too-close. His eye caught his assailant-a larger Machamp, looking red in the face, almost a twin of the other, and flanked by a pair of Chatot on their shoulders. They were all yelling something, but there was no time to register it, he was flying now, to the Northroad, to them.

Pheobe reached the scene first, both wands in hand, while Oceanus was charging behind, wild-eyed and looking everywhere for more sudden bandits. Pheobe, desperate for help, ANY help, just sent a Telepathic message to the Azumarill, the most likely to be receptive of it (Ghost types had an on-off relationship with Psionics and using telepathy on weak-typed Pokemon was seen as rather rude and the basis for more malicious works). Telepathic messages really didn't WORK with language-they were ideas and thoughts compressed into images and sounds, feelings really, related to them, thus the message went something like this to the reciever in practice (: <"Bandits Trying Killing Skinning Me Help Stop Them">

In a few minutes, Hyperion would describe what happened next as the second-luckiest break in his life, as the first was reserved for narrowly dodging the monstrosity's gaping maw from before. Moving to land nearby the duo of survivors and about to reprimand them for involving themselves so readily in a situation that was doubtless souring more by the second, another arrow from the Machamp (now running towards the whole scene with murder on their face) swerved over his head, and towards the direction of the Blaziken-what happened next he didn't register, as he turned to face the oncoming Machamp. "Augh, no no no no, not cornered!" He said, as he could see, in the distance, the sure signs of a Charmeleon and the Ampibomb from before, while the Machamp was closing in, pulling out a sword and looking dead-unwilling to negotiate.

If the bandits from the south and the two louts here were any bit related this would probably be sucking a lot harder than it already did, and really being surrounded on two sides is already a bad situation.

[Morzone]

Members of Team FireStorm
Fracture Heavens Safehaven
Affected RP'ers: Gef Neo Emolga Alphys LKWayvern

"I agree with the Zoroark, Let's give 'em some punishment for being so late! How about I give them all a good burn?" Torch said, in a somewhat bored, somewhat annoyed voice. He'd been shooting bits of fire into the air and watching them vanish out of boredom.

"That could be highly detrimental to our future if the occasion arises that we must alliance ourselves with Cloudview." Shock responded flatly, not taking his eyes off the book he was reading.

"Shock, I swear you live to take the fun out of my life."

"376"

"376 what?"

"That's the 376th time you told me I take the fun out of your life. Though no matter how many times I apparently do it you manage to enjoy yourself nonetheless."

"Oh shut up you know-it-all"

Stone ignored his teammates and spent the time waiting watching the various leaders and teams in the room. He noted the impatience, the disrespect, the tension, and other emotions running high in the room. This was going to be a very interesting meeting once the latecomers arrived. The importance was palpable.

[LKWayvern]

RGS, FHS, LVS, PSS
Fractured Heavens Safehaven
ARPers: Neo Emolga, Morzone, Gef, Alphys

Yuko temporarily met Magnum’s eyes when he shot a look towards her. She let out a huff of air, and leaned forwards onto her staff again. Tap. Tap.

Crownless looked to Magnum and Zilch with a mostly neutral look, his arms still crossed. His eyes were ever-so-slightly narrowed. “Patience is a virtue,” he said. “Learning it may do you some good in the future.” His ear twitched slightly. “And on the contrary, Magnum, it’s because they are farmers that they’re valued by other Safehavens. They provide the most food and medicine for Safehavens, both extremely valuable. Especially since the Bloodcloud Wall makes plants difficult to grow.”

“Plus, Persevering Spirit does nothing for the other Safehavens, they just sit on the edge of Silent Tundra and act moody,” Silver called out.

Crim narrowed her eyes and bared her teeth in a snarl. “We do not require your help, and so we are not obligated to help you in return.”

Knight placed a paw on Crim’s back. The ninetales attempted to calm her temper. She succeeded in shutting her mouth, however she continued looking in a rather bad temper.

Upon hearing Team Firestorm, Crim gave them a cold glare. “Do not say that. Would you like to be splashed for every time the Emerald Mountains delayed us?” she asked. “And it is unlikely Persevering Spirit would need to ally with another Safehaven.”

“Although seeing that Cloudview grows medicinal berries, they would certainly be useful to ally with,” Knight spoke. Then in a lower voice, he hissed “And if you three cannot act in a mature manner, I will ask you once to leave the room.”

Brenton crossed his arms, but did not comment. “Gleam. Please take Adflatus down to check on Cloudview Cliffs, before this escalates further,” he asked the rotom.

Gleam grinned and nodded. “Gotcha, Brent!” The small Plasma Pokemon darted into the larger automaton-like Pokemon. The energy emanating from its cracks, and its eye color both shifted from white-gold to electric blue.

“Be right back!” The voice Adflatus spoke with was distinctively Gleam’s, however it was changed a lot. Almost like a recording of Gleam’s voice, echoing down a metal tube. The rotom-possessed-golurk exited the room, and his heavy footsteps could be heard easily, echoing on the concrete floor.

~~~

CCS Leader+Betas
Fullmoon Highway
ARPers: The Nonexistent Tazz

’Bandits Trying Killing Skinning Me Help Stop Them’

Surprisingly enough, it was both the azumarill and the gourgeist who received the message. Clara whirled about, very confused by the sudden voice in her head, while Perish did not react physically at all. The blaziken and scolipede frowned at Clara.

“Is your friend drunk?” the scolipede asked Perish, condescendingly.

‘If you could please be patient for a moment while I deal with a group of bandits threatening me and my betas, that would be lovely. I will be with you as soon as possible,’ Perish responded to Phoebe, through telepathy, sounding pleasant and cheerful. That was a bit odd.

Perish nudged Clara. “Okay, we gotta wrap up here quickly. Not only are we behind schedule, apparently someone needs our help,” the Ghost type spoke, firing two small seeds at both bandits before she had even finished her sentence, while Clara curled up into a ball, a softly glowing Aqua Veil surrounding her. The shimmering water caused the azumarill’s soft fur to become pleasantly damp.

The seeds hit the bandits, burrowing into their skin(or exoskeleton, in the scolipede’s case), and sprouting small vines. At the same time, an arrow hit the blaziken in the left shoulder.

Multiple things began happening at once. The scolipede stared in fright and surprise at the arrow, extremely confused, and looked back to where it had come from. Upon noticing Hyperion, the machamp, and the chatot, the bug waved his stubby arms angrily. “Oi! Don’t attack my partner unless you want a faceful of Steamroll, muscle-for-brains!” he hollered.

The blaziken clenched his hands into fists, setting the arrow and Leech Seed both on fire and singing Starr’s fur, causing the linoone to whine in pain. Clara then slammed into the blaziken’s leg, causing a crack to be heard and for the blaziken to be shoved backward, onto his rear and off of Starr.

Starr quickly got up, looking a bit dizzy from standing too fast, before skittering away from the blaziken, and immediately trying to whack the scolipede while it was distracted by the other group of bandits with an Iron Tail attack. Unfortunately, the centipede managed to notice Starr as he readied his attack, and blocked Starr’s tail with a hasty Protect.

While all this was happening, Perish used Phantom Force to vanish from the scene. When next she reappeared, it was several yards behind the bandits attempting to attack Hyperion.

Quickly coming to the conclusion that the machamp and his allies were probably not the ones who had called her for assistance, in quick succession Perish fired another Leech Seed at the machamp, before taking a bit more time to charge up at Shadow Ball and hold it, waiting for the machamp to turn around.

“Help has arrived!” Perish called out, cheerily. “Pidgeot, would you lend me a wing and help flank him, please? We appear to be outnumbered.” It was difficult to tell if she had noticed the charmeleon and ambipom rapidly approaching behind her. Either way, she was doing a remarkable job of remaining calm.

???
Fractured Heavens Safehaven
ARPers: ???

Traveling like this was always disorienting. But he had no choice if he wished to remain undetected.

It was almost like being underwater when one had no gills. He could float trance-like, with no sense of urgency, for a brief amount of time.

But then a sense of wrongness, of panic, a need to return to his normal form built up in his chest.

He could detect presences nearby. Perhaps they were those whom he was looking for.

[Noblejanobii]

Team Camelot
Persevering Spirits Safehaven

They were late. They were very late. It was not all that unusual for their Safehaven's leaders, but Arthur still disliked this outcome. Punctuality was important after all. Arthur could only imagine the opinion the other Safehaven leaders had of Persevering Spirits. The terrain had been especially hard to traverse today, so they had a somewhat half decent excuse today, but usually that was not so. Arthur sighed internally. He had not aided the situation either. Per usual when his team had to leave Llamrei under the care of someone else that was not part of the Persevering Spirits Safehaven, Arthur had gotten into an argument when the person caring for her over just how much they needed to care for the Rapidash. Most caretakers weren't all that kind to the ferals temporarily placed under their care. However, Arthur knew Llamrei well enough to know she didn't tolerate such treatment, and always tried to emphasize that fact with people. No one else seemed to really understand so time and time again Arthur would return Llamrei having injured someone, damaging property, or running away. He was not sure why he still tried to convince people when the end result was always the same.

Team Camelot filed in right behind their leaders. Arthur awaited for the beginning of the meeting until it was announced that one of the other Safehaven's leaders had not arrived yet. Arthur frowned. Someone was later than they?

"Ha! Good, someone else is late for a change," Lancelot mumbled. "Get them off our backs for once. You know?" Arthur leveled a glare at his teammate. Lancelot's smile faltered and he cleared his throat awkwardly. "Of course that also means it's probable something happened to them on their trip here. Should we suggest to look for them?"

"It seems logical," Kay replied. He pressed his thick arm to his chin and narrowed his violet eyes in thought. "The missing Safehaven is usually the first to arrive to such meetings from what I gather. Given our rescue work record, it might seem like a well played suggestion to offer our services."

"Though there's a risk that the other groups might scoff at the suggestion," Mordred commented. "Our reputation may precede us and given the other teams that I see present, specifically the Relic Graveyard team, they may be aware of our recent mishaps and throw it into our faces."

"If they do that then we stand strong, and only let a decline from one of the leaders be our true answer to our request," Arthur replied. Once receiving nods all around, Arthur turned to the group. He waited for the gripping to quell and prepared to make his team's offer when the opportunity was passed on to another. From the corner of his eye, Arthur could see Kay deflate a little. Arthur placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Next time." Kay smiled a bit before turning his attention to the main group.

"If I may," Kay interjected, "getting impatient seems like the incorrect course of action in this situation. I understand that the more time spent here is less time we spend out aiding our Safehavens, but I have no doubt that there is a just reason behind their tardiness, much as the Persevering Spirits's Safehaven always has a reason behind ours." Kay paused then added, "And it is not because we have an apathy towards the other Safehavens. The Emerald Mountains have become increasingly difficult to traverse in recent times. That fact aside, while we understand it may not be our place to offer now given that someone else more qualified than us has been dispatched, if the leaders find it necessary, Team Camelot would be more than willing to also aid in the search for the Cloudview Cliffs delegates."

[Morzone]

Members of Team FireStorm
Fracture Heavens Safehaven
Affected RP'ers: Gef Neo Emolga Alphys LKWayvern

"Hey, I resent that comment!" Torch said to Silver, ignoring the others completely, "Preserving spirit works hard to provide a nice place to live when other safe-havens act too belligerent to live there!"

"Torch, you are probably one of the most belligerent pokemon in all the safe-havens combined." Shock said in his usual uninterested voice.

"Oh come on, just because-"

"Silence. Both of you." Stone interrupted, Giving a sideways glare to his two teammates. It wouldn't do to antagonize the others in the room, or hurt the pride of their safehaven's leader. He may have his own feelings on the matter, but they weren't important at the moment.

Shock nodded and continued reading, but torch scowled and said, "Am I not allowed to reply to an insult?"

"You are acting as a Child would. Be more professional, Torch."

Torch Harrumphed, crossed his arms, and fell silent. Stone turned to Crim and said, "I apologize for the words of my companions. we do not mean to undermine the abilities or values of our safe haven."

[LKWayvern]

RGS, FHS, LVS, PSS
Fractured Heavens Safehaven
ARPers: Neo Emolga, Gef, Alphys, Morzone

Crim thought for a moment.

“Help is always appreciated, and some more levelheaded Pokemon may be good for keeping Gleam in control. His strategy does tend to be ‘brute force’, and ‘strike first, questions later’. I don’t see any reason that they shouldn’t help,” Brenton spoke.

Crim nodded. “If you want to go,” she said, “You may. You will have to be quick, though.”

Knight moved directly in front of Torch and Shock, crossing his arms and giving them a deadly glare. “Did you not hear my warning?” he asked in a low voice, yet again. “If someone insults you, they are beneath you, and the best possible way to get back at them is to simply not respond. This is your final warning.”

Crim turned to Stone. “I cannot fault them for speaking their minds,” she said, “However there is a difference between rudeness and honesty, and there is a time when it is simply wiser to not speak.” The second part seemed to be addressed to the whole team. “Speaking of wiser things, perhaps it would have been wiser to only bring Team Camelot as accompaniment. Or perhaps it would have been wiser to simply not attend at all.”

“I assure you, Crim, that you will find this meeting worth traveling… Once Cloudview gets here,” Yuko spoke. “That goes for all of the rest of you, too.” Her gaze wandered about the room, resting on Team Lockdown and Relic Graveyard Safehaven for longer than the others.

“Trust us, we’re experts!” Isa said, winking, grinning, and doing some sort of weavile thumbs-up with his claws. That wasn’t exactly reassuring.

"...I find that hard to believe when you refuse to assure us, except to say our presence is necessary," Crim pointed out.

"Well, when Perish and her teams get here, you won't need to wait. And you are here now, why not at least stay the night before returning home. And if you're going to stay the night, why not attent the meeting," Yuko sighed.

Pokemon capable of detecting aura would feel a presence appear for a few moments, and then fade again, like a wailord breaching the surface of the ocean for air before slipping beneath the waves again. How strange. Crim’s tails swished slightly, Yuko’s ears flicked, and Aurora blinked.

Aurora frowned. “...Odd,” she muttered. She glanced briefly at Crownless.

???
Fractured Heavens Safehaven?
ARPers: ???

He had allowed himself to hover halfway between coming out of hiding, and remaining in safety for a moment. Just long enough to hear the conversations.

Safehaven.

He had the correct Pokemon, then.

A large group of them, too.

It was risky. But there was a chance he could not dismiss.

[Morzone]

Members of Team FireStorm
Fracture Heavens Safehaven
Affected RP'ers: Gef Neo Emolga Alphys LKWayvern

Torch glared back at Knight. "I find your warning insulting, and therefore You are beneath me and I do not recognize your power to throw us out of here. You are not my leader"

Stone growled at Torch to make him shut up. He was considering sending Torch out of the room anyway, but it was important for all three of them to be well informed.

Turning back to Crim Stone said, "What you say is true, but I must advise against not attending. True opportunity only knocks once. If it was not so important for us all to be well informed on what this meeting details, then I would have left my teammates out of it. As it is I must ask for your patience in dealing with Torch and Shock."

Shock, having ignored most other things, looked up quickly as Aurora said "Odd.." His mind quickly began running through possible reasons to make her say such a thing and glance at crownless.

[The Nonexistent Tazz]

Hyperion/Pheobe/Oceanus
Fullmoon Highway
Cloudview Cliff Safehaven

Pheobe got an oddly calm reassurance for her worries even as the murderous Machamp was approaching-one Pheobe speculated to have been kin to the other-while the Chatot pair took off, readying up for some sort of offensive,, looking positively devious in their glares. They sqwalked something to each other as the Machamp rushed forwards, who was now abandoning the bows altogether and reached for the belt, intending to remove it and unleash its uncontrollable strength, shouting something. ((Translated: half cursing directed at everyone else, and "SHE'S MINE")). <"Gourgeist Azumarill Linoone allies rest bandits"> Pheobe telepathed to her party members as the Machamp approached, and she found herself quite unable to do jack.

It was then the Leech Seed hit from the Gourgeist, and the Machamp, predictably, turned its head backwards. The Chatot caught the motion out of the corner of their eyes, turned around, and in joint unison promptly revealed what they were doing-an attack called Heat Wave. Both of them at the same time superheated air right in front of them, and then flapped with considerable force, dispersing it forewards. The superheated air hurtled towards the Grass type, but had a small distance to travel-but an altogether deadly payload.

Hyperion did not at ALL understand what the Gourgeist asked of him. It was gibberish, like the rest of what he's said. He didn't even bother directly responding, just using the strongest attack he could think of, and flapped his wings hard, concentrating on the spiraling mess of death known as a hurricane. Energy left him-quite a bit of it-but force escaped. This was around the same time the Chatot did likewise, and while neither were very strong, Hyperion's Hurricane won out, entangling the hot, fierce winds back at the attackers, which, combined with the presumed attack from the Gourgeist and the ferocity of the Hurricane itself, sent the Chatot flying backwards, feathers scorched, and forced the Machamp to eat the dark rock beneath. One flew into the forest, hitting the ground, moving no more, while the other managed to recover, the farthest north of all the combatants, behind the Blaziken and Socilipede, where it exchanged some rude words with the dirt it nearly slammed into, still quite exhausted. An easy kill for the duo, if they weren't preoccupied. The Machamp groaned pain, dizzied and stunned.

While this was happening, it became about as blunt as a rock that Oceanus, upon reaching the group, didn't STOP running, instead taking an opportunity-just after the Azumarill freed the Linoone, Oceanus pulled out a Seamitar, shot water from his feet in an Aqua Jet, closed all the distance between him and the Blaziken, attempting to tackle him full-force. That coming from a beefy Samurott such as he couldn't have felt good to anyone, much less in a supereffective matchup like that. "GHRAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Pheobe herself, meanwhile, took a quick look behind her, and as soon as the Machamp was down in the dirt, with Oceanus tangling with the Blaziken and the Linoone dealing with the Socilipede, the only targets left were-oh my, both of them had their backs turned, didn't they?

<"Gourgeist Hyperion Behind You Charmeleon Ampibomb More Bandits"> Pheobe messaged, trying to maintain a semblence of order, and trying to move slightly out of the way of everyone. Pheobe took aim at them with one of her wands, but noticed the Machamp stirring much closer, and instinctively shot out a beam of psionic energy directly into the Machamp. The Machamp groaned in pain, pausing, while Pheobe stepped back from the chaos, trying to be as useful as possible and trying to stay away from as many things that were trying to off her as possible-which was effectively all of them.

Hyperion himself turned around and was relieved that the arrow, this time, had missed by a wider margin, though less than pleased to notice the Charmeleon and the Ampibomb from before. The Ampibomb reached for an arrow in his quiver but found none, and ditched the bow in exchange for daggers; meanwhile, the Charmeleon was armed with a rather fierce looking pair of axes, ridding the air with curses as fire brewed in his mouth, readying some kind of fire attack, presumably flamethrower. "What did I do to deserve this?"

[LKWayvern]

(Let's get the plot rolling now, shall we?)

RGS, FHS, LVS, PSS
Fractured Heavens Safehaven
ARPers: Neo Emolga Alphys Gef Morzone

Upon hearing Torch’s words, Knight stepped closer to the magmortar. He suddenly seemed a lot taller. He was probably using an illusion. “I may not be your leader, however I am your beta, more powerful than you in battle, more mature than you, at a higher rank, more intelligent than you, more courteous than you, and will be your leader if Crim is forced to step down. I recommend that you listen to and respect me. That was not an insult, it was the truth.”

“If you keep disrespecting my beta, I give him full authority to escort you out, and proper punishment will be assigned upon our return to the Safehaven,” Crim said in response to Torch. She turned back to Stone. She was silent for several seconds, before muttering “I suppose it would be a waste of time, energy, and supplies to have crossed the mountains once only to return right away…”

Those who had sensed the presence momentarily surfacing before would feel it again.

The last time, though, it had felt like a wailord coming up for air for a second. This time it felt like the wailord was leaping out of the water, doing a double backflip, and making the most attention-grabbing splash possible when it landed back in the ocean.

At the same time, some sort of misty shadow-like substance was forming in one of the unnocupied corners of the room, beginning to congeal into a rather nightmarish figure.

It was black. That was the most obvious thing about it. It was unclear if the blackness was fur or skin. Its legs were shifting and didn’t appear entirely corporeal, and they had no depth. Some parts of the creature were still wispy, trailing off into nothingness and moving constantly like smoke in the wind. It had clawlike hands, set on scrawny arms. The entire creature was rather gaunt and thin, it was possible to count its ribs.

Obscuring the creature’s neck and mouth was a collar of massive, sharp looking red spikes, almost like fangs. It had wispy, long white hair that seemed lighter than air. Some of the hair obscured the creature’s right eye. It was, however, possible to see its left eye, which was a light cerulean color, and seemed to glow.

Upon feeling the presence, Aurora’s, Yuko’s, and Crim’s heads snapped to the corner of the room where the creature formed immediately. When the strange black mist and appeared and formed into that thing, the other Safehaven leaders and betas in the room had turned their attention to it, as well.

“Legendary,” Yuko hissed, fur fluffing up in shock. “Dark type.”

Crownless and Silver were the first to react. Crownless stood up, thrusting out his left hand, and used Stone Edge, a massive stone claymore appearing in it. With his right hand, he used Fire Punch, a wreath of flames dancing about his claws.

Sparks shot from Silver’s cheeks, making his yellow cheeks turn blue with electricity. He immediately began racing on all fours towards the creature, preparing a Nuzzle.

Yuko and Knight were the next to react among the leaders and betas. The delphox started reciting a Lucky Chant and setting up Protects around herself and those from her Safehaven.

Knight, on the other hand, used Hone Claws and leaped towards the creature. Knight had intended to use a Sucker Punch, and therefore arrived before the other Pokemon, however the attack never formed. The creature wasn’t preparing any moves at the moment, apparently.

The creature put up its hands in defense. It narrowed its one visible eye, seeming ready to dodge.

Perish, Clara, Starr
Fullmoon Highway
ARPers: The Nonexistent Tazz

Upon seeing the machamp and chatot turn around, and the chatot release their attack, Perish sighed, figured there was nothing to lose from releasing the Energy Ball, and did so while bracing herself for the attack. She did not figure there to be enough time for her to dodge with a Phantom Force.

So instead she simply took the attack, biting down on her lip to keep from crying out in pain.

Upon hearing that there was a charmeleon directly behind her, Perish smirked in triumph. ‘Thank you very much, Ms. Mysterious Psychic, for that piece of information. She whirled about, and sucked the life force from the charmeleon with a Pain Split attack, intending to replenish her health somewhat.

To the north, Starr scrambled backwards. The scolipede took down the Protect to ready a Poison Tail, only for Starr to ram himself into the scolipede’s underbelly with a powerful Headbutt attack. The scolipede recoiled, and Starr immediately followed up with an Iron Tail on one of the scolipede’s front legs.

The scolipede leaned back, putting its weight on its back legs, before its horned shone bright green, and the centipede stabbed them into Starr as it used Megahorn. Starr inhaled sharply, and pulled away from the scolipede, flinging a Sand Attack into the Bug’s eyes to temporarily blind and distract it.

Clara, on the other hand, wasted no time in trying to nail the nearby chatot who had landed nearby with a Rollout.

The blaziken was clearly rather distressed by the samurott that was suddenly attacking it. The Aqua Jet caused it to fly backwards and land on the ground, although it managed to leap back up and into action rather quickly. It inhaled deeply, using Agility, before attempting to land two fearsome hits on Oceanus with a Double Kick. The blaziken then tried to strike with a powerful Sky Uppercut attack on Oceanus’ chin.

[Noblejanobii]

Team Camelot
Persevering Spirits Safehaven

Seeing that they had received their instruction to leave, Arthur and his team began to leave the room. However, just as they were about to leave, a presence flicked against Arthur’s mind. He stumbled back a little, unprepared and caught off guard by the touch. Arthur reached out to find it again, but just as quickly as it had come, it was gone.

“Arthur!” Kay had reached out and steadied his brother when Arthur had stumbled. While he was unsure of exactly what had just occurred, he could make a guess. Arthur was extremely sensitive to shifts in the area around him. Given the perplexed expressions from some of the other members in the room, he could guess that something (though Kay was unsure what) had changed in the atmosphere around them, making itself known to those who could sense it in the room. “Are you okay, brother?” Kay asked quietly. Arthur rubbed his head and nodded.

“Yes, I am well. I was caught off guard by a shift in the surroundings, though I know not what.” Arthur stood up straight and shook his head to clear it. “We should be off.” Arthur turned to leave the room when he felt a tug on his cape. Arthur looked over his shoulder to find Mordred there, a concerned look in his eye.

“Maybe we shouldn’t go. I remember the last time something like this happened to you. It… it did not end well for you.” Arthur sighed in remembrance. It was true. Ferals were extremely cunning, whether or not people wanted to give them recognition of that, and there had been cases when they found out Arthur’s psychic type abilities were not only a strength, but a weakness. The last time they had been used against him by overloading his senses, Arthur had been knocked unconscious for almost a week. Lancelot had joined up with Rai’s team for the time to keep bringing in income, while Kay and Mordred stayed behind to tend to Arthur.

Arthur opened his mouth to answer Mordred’s concerns when suddenly what seemed to be a fight broke out between the Persevering Spirit’s beta and one of Team Firestorm’s members. Lancelot shook his head and mumbled something along the lines of “good grief”. All four members of Team Camelot had to wonder what possessed their leaders to allow Team Firestorm to come along when the temperament was not exactly a well kept secret. Lancelot found himself cringing at their behavior, as any chance of their receiving respect from the other safehavens seemed to be swiftly slipping away with each word that left the magmortar’s mouth.

And then, swift as a Ninjask, Arthur collapsed. The presence had resurfaced again, and while Arthur had been somewhat prepared for it this time, it was overwhelming to him.

“Arthur!” Mordred turned around and unsheathed himself when he saw the pokemon raise itself from the corner of the room. Arthur was in no shape to battle, and until he had the chance to adjust to the presence, his teammates would have to cover for him. Kay suddenly realized this must have been what was affecting Arthur. He snarled and expanded his wings slightly, electricity crackling between his antennae and flames leaking from his lips. He couldn’t do much in such close quarters without possibly injuring someone else, but if the creature got within range, he’d be ready to unleash his true power.

Lancelot, with his small size, was the only one to quickly maneuver away from his team. Upon hearing that this guy was a dark type, Lancelot clicked his claws together and leapt forward the legendary, he slashed the air, forming an X motion. Green slash marks followed and Lancelot shot forward towards the creature with an X-scissors.

[The Nonexistent Tazz]

((That moment when you realize you've misspelled Ambipom's name for a good two posts.))

Hyperion/Pheobe/Oceanus
Fullmoon Highway
Cloudview Cliff Safehaven

Pheobe, looking at the Machamp, still struggling to get up, officially decided that enough was enough, gritted her teeth, approached before it could cognize its happenings, and put her natural, wooden wand direct to his head-figuring that trying to just cut the jugular would take too long. She closed her eyes, tried hard not to think about what she was doing, and used Psybeam, again.

The Machamp's head, to put it bluntly, exploded like a blood sausage. "AYEIEI!!" That was one down, and Pheobe was trying to clean her face. The appreciation of the Gourgeist was only mildly calming.

Meanwhile, Clara's rollout attack, despite being an attack that came out weak to start and grew over time, was enough to kill the very-weakened Chatot, unable to withstand such force. Needless to say, the result was messy and red. That was two down. The other Chatot looked bitter about that, but did not move to take revenge-it gave Clara the stink eye and flew into the depths of the forest, perhaps thinking itself too weak individually to do so.

Oceanus, meanwhile, stared down the Blaziken. Samurott quickly pumped himself up by, well...It looked quite odd, he was just kind of smashing up the ground. To the more informed, it was a technique known as Shell Smash-but it was rather hard to teach it to Samurott as they didn't have much shell to smash up for the maneuver and it was more of a shift in energy flows. Oceanus knew not why he knew it, but he cared not either-he could feel his muscles bulge as he bruised his skin up, paradoxically, the energy was flowing and his restraint was loosening. The Blaziken's blows hurt more but he did not care enough to do anything other than advance, hacking away with the Seamitars and Razor Shell for every blow delivered, refusing to back off and refusing to let up, perhaps even post-mortem for the poor fowl, and just roaring as loud as his lungs would allow it.

Hyperion was really the only one thinking with a moderately rational head of his three cohorts at this point. He saw the Charmeleon wince as the Pain Split hit home, but refused to back off of his own Flamethrower, sending a torrent of flame at the Gourgeist as an exchange. The Ambipom, meanwhile, flung a knife up to its tails, perhaps intending to take aim at him, and slice him out of the sky? It mattered not, he couldn't spam Hurricanes or any of his other really good attacks, but instead, he pulled a cheap trick. The Ambipom's eyes widened in mild confusion as Hyperion suddenly revealed he was in fact four blokes-except not, merely clones, but clones enough to confuse and scatter as the Ambipom just opted to throw a knife instead at the tangle between the Socilipede and the Linoone, keeping an eye on the four Hyperions-just as he decided to quickly converge upon the Ampibomb, and thus all four clones closed in, a self-reliant flanking Maneuver. The Ambipom braced itself and took a swing at one of the clones with a dagger, while Hyperion himself smirked and wrapped his talon along the knife, disarming the Ampibom and flying away, just as the Ampibom realized exactly what happened.

Hyperion really couldn't use the dagger-his legs weren't suitable for stabbing others with anything other than talons-but better to keep it in his hands than the others, right?

The Charmeleon was about to do something else when he saw the larger Machamp dead on the ground. Seeing this, he stopped the Ambipom right as he was going to do something and said something that none of the trio knew (though to the leader and betas of Cloudview Cliff it was quite clearly an order to beat feet as the fight was going south and the mark wasn't worth their lives). The Ambipom glared at the Samurott in the distance, roaring and slashing wildly, but realized how woefully outmatched they were against the six Pokemon they had to go up against, not counting the two bandits of another clan that were also pretty threatening, and they too departed into the cover of the eastern woods.

Fights never stretched on once an opportunity to go three-on-one was to be had like this. There were places to be and, unbeknownst to these lot, very angry legends to be dealing with at Fractured Heaven's Safehaven.

[Morzone]

Members of Team FireStorm
Fracture Heavens Safehaven
Affected RP'ers: Gef Neo Emolga Alphys LKWayvern

Torch would've been quite happy to point out Knight's weakness to fire, as well as the fact that the only leader torch recognized was stone. But when a chance to achieve a lifelong dream of defeating a legend appears before, one doesn't care for such trivial things.

"Darkrai. King of Nightmares." Shock said, closing and putting his book down: The legendary pokemon of our world

All three members were on their feet in an instant. "Specialization?" Stone asked.

"Darkrai's special move puts his enemies to sleep and traps them within nightmares." Shock replied.

"So we need some of these." Torch said, pulling 3 Chesto berries from the bag slung by his side. He tossed one each to Shock and Stone and all three ate.

"How many extras?" Stone asked.

"One for each of us"

"If either of you suspect for a moment the berries are wearing off, eat the backup." Stone commanded as Torch passed out the other berries. "Shock, battle strategy analysis."

"Being a dark type, are moves will be normal effective. His dark moves will be at an advantage in such a crowded room. However, his ability to fly is also hampered by the room, which aids us. Being a legend Darkrai is likely to have high power and stamina, so we must be careful not to waste our energy early in the battle. Darkrai is also believed to be an able and adept battler, however we do not, yet, have proof of this."

"Alright, I want a Lambda set up. Initiate." Stone said, and all three moved moved a good distance apart, long enough that only very certain moves would be able to hit more than one of them at once. They also stayed an exact and equal distance apart from each other. A perfect triangle. However, none of them attacked. Each was tense, watching, but did not yet make a move.

Some thing isn't right about this isn't right. Stone thought as he watched the others charge recklessly at the legendary. Since childhood we were taught that the legends had gone rogue and killed mercilessly. And Darkrai is supposedly a very adept fighter. Then why did he surrender his element of surprise? Did it have no choice? Could it be that whatever had kept Darkrai hidden prevented it from causing them harm? Maybe shock's info was wrong and Darkrai is not a fighter. Or... maybe Darkrai's not here to fight? I must discern this quickly, for the sake of everyone here.

[LKWayvern]

RGS, FHS, LVS, PSS, ???
Fractured Heavens Safehaven
ARPers: Gef, Neo Emolga, Alphys, Morzone

If Torch had indeed pointed out Knight’s weakness to Fire, Knight would have heartily recommended a Type re-education class for Team Firestorm, as Dark types show no strengths or weaknesses against Fire. He would have also pointed out that Crim was, ultimately, everyone in Persevering Spirit Safehaven’s leader, no matter what the magmortar said to the contrary.

The creature dodged away from Lancelot, moving rapidly by using Quick Attack, although it did not attack anyone. Shortly after that, however, Silver landed his Nuzzle attack on the Legendary.

The creature’s legs vanished and it fell on the floor, sparks dancing up and down its black body. It slowly got up in the air again, and its legs reappeared. It was a bit more tensed and stiff looking now.

It spoke in a very quiet voice, loud enough to let you know it’s talking but soft enough to make you need to really listen to tell what, exactly, it is saying. It sounded male. Frowning at Team Firestorm, it said “Impressively extensive information, but rather flawed and thoroughly unnecessary. If I wished to battle and kill, I would do so on my turf. You all enter it eventually, I have no need to even use Dark Void for that.” He sounded… tired.

Darkrai, as Shock had called it, was still in a defensive position. Arms up, but in a position to block attacks he could not dodge.

Crownless snorted. “I’ve seen it. The few Legendaries I’ve met who decided to talk me out of battling? They attacked moments later. And what other reason would you have to come to a meeting where all Safehaven leaders would be at? If you did manage to kill us all, you’d cause chaos, and possibly dissolve the Safehavens. I can’t let that happen.” Crownless paused, before adding. “Also, you’ve probably killed countless innocent Pokemon. By killing you I can avenge them, and keep you from killing countless more.”

“Hypocrite,” Darkrai muttered.

“Excuse me?” Crownless asked.

“There are some things I would excuse you for,” Darkrai spat, “but not that.”

Aurora bristled. “What’re you talking about? Crownless isn’t a killer!”

“He killed innocent Legendaries,” Darkrai pointed out.

“That’s practically an oxymoron!” Aurora yelled.

“Why are you here, then?” Crim asked loudly, sounding annoyed. “Just spit it out!”

“I wanted a mission,” Darkrai said. “That is what Safehavens are for, correct?”

“You won’t get a mission by insulting us!” Silver said.

“You attacked me. And started the insults,” Darkrai pointed out.

Perish, Clara, Starr
Fullmoon Highway
ARPers: The Nonexistent Tazz

Having a Machamp’s head explode ‘like a blood sausage’ behind her seemed to put a slight dampener on Perish’s mood. It also spattered the light green cloak she was wearing with red splotches. “Aw. I liked the cloak. Eh, I have like two others just like it,” she said aloud to… well, no one nearby.

Clara sighed, renewing her Aqua Ring to wash any blood in her fur out. “This is why I never joined a scavenger team,” she muttered, before using another Rollout to smash into the exoskeleton of the somewhat surprised scolipede, who had been a bit preoccupied with Starr and hadn’t really expected it would have to face another opponent. At the same time, the knife thudded into the scolipede from the other side, as it was the larger target and therefore more easily hit than Starr. The scolipede was stunned for a moment from the two attacks.

The poor blaziken, while fast, was unable to keep up with Oceanus or even strike back, as the samurott had barely given the blaziken enough time and room to breathe. By the time it was dead, it rather bloodied, its beak was smashed, and some bones were undoubtedly broken.

The scolipede stopped battling for a moment, looked at the fate of his comrade, and high-tailed it out of the vicinity of the battle. Starr and Clara allowed the Bug to leave. They also wordlessly agreed to stay away from Oceanus while the Water type pounded the blaziken into a bloody pulp. Clara used her paws to press her sensitive ears against her head as hard as she possibly could and winced at Oceanus’ roaring.

Perish, upon having a Flamethrower hurled at her, dodged with Phantom Force. She was singed a bit before she managed to fully use the move, but did end up dodging most of the attack by appearing roughly five feet to the left.

When she saw the ambipom and charmeleon turn tails and run, she turned around to face Phoebe. The gourgeist saw in the distance that her betas were walking over to her.

Perish did a little bow to the braixen. ‘Hello, there. Thanks for the help in the battle. My name is Perish, leader of the Cloudview Cliffs Safehaven. My friends over there are my two betas, Clara the azumarill and Starr the linoone. Thank you again. May I know your and your friends’ names? And would I be correct in thinking that you’re not… from here?’ she asked.

[The Nonexistent Tazz]

Hyperion/Pheobe/Oceanus
Fullmoon Highway
Cloudview Cliff Safehaven

Hyperion breathed a sigh of relief as he clearly saw the last remaining foes high-tail it out of there. He spotted no bags or anything on the like of any of the Pokemon-the only prize would be the Dagger, useless in his hands and inferior in make to the one Pheobe had. Better still, it appeared there were Pokemon that WERE in fact in a good mood, a pleasent surprise and the first good thing that's happened to him in a long time. Well, second-the first was surviving what he could only guess to be a Mega Wailord or something else eating their ship.

Oceanus just kept breathlessly pounding and pounding and pounding, only somewhat aware of the moderate pains from the Double Kick and Sky Uppercut, until he finally noticed his victim was very dead. He stopped, panting heavily, and that's when he really started to notice the pain-but it wasn't much. The skin would be bruised but he didn't think anything would be broken. The Adernaline died, leaving Oceanus feeling much weaker than he did before. He just had to wonder what that was about.

Pheobe, meanwhile, gave a considerable gaze across the area as the noise died down, before almost returning to rubbing out the red liquids coating her fur, before the message returned from the Gourgeist.

<"Hello, there. Thanks for the help in the battle. My name is Perish, leader of the Cloudview Cliffs Safehaven. My friends over there are my two betas, Clara the azumarill and Starr the linoone. Thank you again. May I know your and your friends’ names? And would I be correct in thinking that you’re not… from here?">

Thinking more clearly and mildly more capable of composing a legitimate message rather than a hurried rush of thoughts like before, Pheobe tried to take her mind away from the blood and turned to her teammates as they walked in.

"I guess the ghost-type is Psychic as well?" Hyperion said. "All this quiet but it looks like you're talking."

"...Yes. Yes she is. She wants to know who we are...No point not telling at this point." Pheobe said.

"Better than nothing, they'll help us tell what's going on and they're not trying to kill us." Oceanus said. Pheobe's eyes were briefly magnetized to the sight of blood on his arms, but Oceanus didn't seem to bother with it.

Hyperion sighed. "Go ahead. Let's see if they'll lend a hand...Oh please lend a hand please..."

<"...My name is Pheobe, and these two are Oceanus-the Samurott-and Hyperion-the Pidgeot. We were...Shipwrecked here, yes. Hyperion remembers it, we were attacked by that...Odd Wailord, I suppose? We barely managed to escape to the shore before it ate us, or wash up there in our cases...Oceanus doesn't remember anything and I think I'm having a hard time recalling things too..."> Pheobe 'said.' She opted not to mention the whole fact about arriving by prisoner boat, that might leave a bad taste for the introduction.

<"We don't know what's going on here, at all, and, well, we need help, badly. Do you know what's going on? Could you help us? We'll be willing to help with anything."> Pheobe said.

She wasn't sure what was really going on, but they HAD to ask and they couldn't afford to not basically beg. ANY aid would be gracious at this point.

[Noblejanobii]

Team Camelot
Persevering Spirits Safehaven

Lancelot, annoyed at the fact that he had missed his attack, slid across the floor, right claws extended to his side. They began to glow brightly as he prepared a brick break attack. The Weavile began to charge for Darkrai again when a voice rose about the others.

"Lancelot! Halt immediately!" Lancelot dug his heels in and stumbled as he stopped, ceasing his attack. He looked over as Arthur approached. The Gallade had recovered somewhat, having adjusted to Darkrai's presence, but he wasn't entirely used to it yet. Arthur glanced over Darkrai warily. "You refer to us all as hypocrites when there are some that stand before you innocent of the crimes you have accused them of? If you are trying to negotiate something, it is not off to a great start." Arthur stepped a little closer to the Darkrai, ready for an attacking but not preparing one himself, relying solely on his ability and quick reflexes should it come down to it. "But it seems there's two sides to this story. Pray tell, oh legendary, why do you approach us now and in this manner? You are, no doubt, well aware that we are obviously not found of you or your kind for the transgressions against us. And yet you still appear before us, not attacking, but not seeming entirely peaceful either. And you also accuse us of murdering innocent legendaries, an oxymoron in every sense to us but not so to you." Arthur paused then asked, "What is it that drove you here today, Darkrai?"

[Neo Emolga]

OOC: Fell a bit behind, sorry about that. Rather than rehash everything, I'll just quickly fast forward to the current point.

Magnum/Apex/Zilch/Sledge
Team Lockdown
Relic Graveyard Safehaven
Affected RPers: Gef Morzone Alphys LKWayvern

Magnum truly didn't care about getting lectured for his lack of patience. To him, this was a matter of wasting time, which, while not as aggravating to him as mission failure, was still frustrating. It was one thing to wait for a window of opportunity to open, but it was quite another to have to be delayed out of another person's tardiness.

At the same time, Zilch, fed up with the whole ordeal, took the attitude that if anything happened because Team Lockdown was away and stuck in this meeting, she refused to be blamed for it. She already had intentions of taking the rest of the day off if her superiors supported slacking.

The situation changed when the misty shadow had emerged and formed within the room.

"Legendary," Yuko hissed. "Dark type."

"Strike it dead, then!" Magnum shouted.

All kinds of attack attempts were made against the shadow, whose true form could not yet be grasped. In the combative chaos, the shadow had survived, but sounded exhausted. The shadow, Darkrai, had lashed out against the Pokémon in the room, and to Magnum's surprise, had claimed he was there out of desire for a mission.

"You're driveling mad," Magnum told Darkrai while on his guard, figuring he would at least enjoy harassing the creature before snuffing his lights out. "You and your filthy compatriots started this madness, but don't for a moment think it'll end the way you intended it would."

Apex the Emolga had watched Darkrai very closely. While the flying squirrel couldn't peer into Darkrai's mind, he was able to anticipate what his next move would be just on his composure, behavior, and stance.

"Target is in D.S." Apex told his squad leader. "Status is N.C. and O.G."

To everyone else in the room, save for Team Lockdown, the Emolga's acronyms were cryptic and could mean anything, but to Team Lockdown, they immediately became aware of the situation thanks to the code-speaking they had all become accustomed to.

"It doesn't make sense..." Magnum hissed, still ready to fight and stand his ground.

But from experience, Magnum noticed the Emolga's report was accurate and matched previous similar confrontations. Meanwhile, Sledge was almost thankful upon hearing the Emogla's observations and was glad Apex didn't let bias cloud his judgment of the situation.

"I don't care," Zilch growled, licking her lips. "There's heaps of us and only one of him! What the hell are we waiting for? If he kills anyone here, that's our fault for giving him that opportunity!"

It was a difficult situation and wasn't something Team Lockdown had faced before. However, in this situation, Magnum was not the commanding officer. If he had been, he would have ordered Darkrai's termination without a second thought, but with Crownless and Yuko in the room, he couldn't make a move unless they confirmed it.

But the whole time, he was truly hoping they would...

[LKWayvern]

RGS, FHS, LVS, PSS
Fractured Heavens Safehaven
ARPers: Neo Emolga, Gef, Alphys, Morzone

“...I did not refer to all of you as hypocrites. I was mainly addressing that Nidoking,” Darkrai clarified.

The Legendary, when approached by Arthur, met the gallade’s eyes but also seemed to try to cover his prominent ribs with his arms. If that was what he was trying to do, it didn’t seem to be working.

Upon hearing Magnum’s statements, the Legendary’s expression soured as he glared at the typhlosion. “Do you think we wanted this?” he asked. “Do you think we find it fun, being hunted by both our former friends and family members, and by mortal Pokemon who once worshipped us? While we are trapped in a single, dying region, with every possible way of escape besides death blocked off to us? Do you think we enjoy being uncertain if our loved ones are hunting us, or dead, or hiding in fear like we are ever day of our lives now!?”

Darkrai paused, and let a breath of air hiss slowly out. He looked back at Arthur.

“...Some of us Legendaries have become Corrupted. I do not know how the Corruption originated. I do know that it warps a Legendary, in their mind, body, and soul. They are no longer the entity they once were. They seek two things, as far as I can tell: to Corrupt other Legendaries, and a second goal which varies between them. I would like to be escorted to a certain location, in the Silent Tundra. However I fear that if I travel for extended periods of time, a Corrupted is certain to find and engage in battle with me. Legendaries are powerful, but Corrupteds are even more so. If you attack me, I will flee. If you accept my mission, I will tell you everything I know about the various abilities and goals about the Corrupteds, and some possible locations of Legendaries who, as far as I know, are alive, not Corrupted, and may be willing to help. I cannot guarantee that my knowledge is absolutely correct, but I am certain at least some of it could prove helpful,” Darkrai said, slowly, in a measured tone.

Perish, Clara, Starr
Fullmoon Highway
ARPers: The Nonexistent Tazz

Perish adjusted her cloak, and crossed her arms. ’You… don’t say…’ The gourgeist absentmindedly hummed a sad sounding melody, pondering what to say next.

Clara shuffled closer to Perish. “What’d they say?” asked.

Perish turned towards her. “I think they’re Foreigners,” Perish said, nonchalantly as one might say ‘it’s a fine day’.

“Say WHAT!!” Clara and Starr were equally shocked by this revelation.

“Foreigners? Wha-- how-- how’d they even get past the Bloodcloud Wall and Kyogre!?” Clara stuttered. “How are they alive? I thought it was impossible, I thought-- I thought--”

“Cooooooool!” Starr chirped, his eyes gleaming. The linoone was looking at Phoebe, Hyperion, and Oceanus in absolute awe. He bounded up towards them. “They’ve got to be really strong to get in here! And they know about Outside! That’s amazing! Do you think they’ve got even better technology than here to get in? Like maybe an anti-Legend Wand or a super-powered Teleport machine or something?”

“There’s kind of a language barrier, so I guess I’ll have to translate most of it,” Perish said. “Give them room, Starr. This must be rather… jarring for them.”

The linoone sighed, and backed up several paces.

“Do they need medical attention? No matter how strong they are, they can’t have gotten past either the Bloodcloud Wall or Kyogre unscathed,” Clara offered. The azumarill seemed to have collected her thoughts a bit more now.

Perish tilted her head. “Good point. I’ll ask them a few questions now.”

’Let’s start with the basics,’ Perish began. ’Welcome to Kaelus. I sincerely hope you enjoy your stay because, well… Not a single Pokemon for a very long time has been able to leave, and I don’t recall any Foreigners entering our region before you three, for an equally long period of time. The red clouds above us cover the entire region, and if you go into them they whip up ferocious winds, kicking you back inside at best and killing you at worst. We call them the Bloodcloud Wall, and were constructed by Rayquaza. The creature that attacked you was the Legendary Pokemon which supposedly created the oceans, named Kyogre. Whenever any of us try to leave the region by boat or swimming, we are always attacked by Kyogre, and either forced back to the shore or eaten. Bandits, ferals, Mystery Dungeons, and Legendaries have been running amok for the past several decades, generally making life a living hell.’

Here Perish paused. ’Roughly 40 years or so ago, though, Pokemon began banding together for protection and shelter. We call these groups ‘Safehavens’. There are five right now. Persevering Spirit, Relic Graveyard, Fractured Heavens, Last Vestige, and the one I lead, Cloudview Cliffs. Most of us have developed a particular specialty. My Safehaven focuses on growing food and medicinal berries for others, and so we have a good relationship with most other Safehavens. At any rate, my betas and I were on our way to a meeting called Fractured Heavens’ leader, when we were attacked by bandits.’

Perish smiled at the Foreigners. ’You’re welcome to come stay at our Safehaven. We can find jobs for all three of you. You could become a farmer, train as a medic or a messenger, create a shop of some sort or work as a shopkeeper’s assistant, cook in the kitchens, or even join a scavenger team. Scavenger teams do spend a great deal of time outside the Safehaven, and occasionally have to go into a mystery dungeon, however, but we won’t be sending you on extremely difficult missions right away. I actually used to be on a scavenger team, Team Reminisce.’

Around then a golurk surrounded by an electric blue aura landed near the Pokemon. “Hey, guys, you’re late! What happened?”

Starr glared at the golurk. “That’s what I kept telling them! It was Clara’s fault. And then we ran into bandits. And then we met these guys, guess what they’re--”

Clara stomped on Starr’s foot and he winced.

“...Really strong. They helped us drive away the bandits,” Starr grumbled.

If the golurk had a tongue to stick out, it probably would’ve done that. “You guys are Safehaven leaders! Why do you need strange Pokemon to help you drive away some weak bandits? I could’ve probably taken care of them on my own!”

“They had a type advantage, and they had Starr in a position where they could have killed him,” Clara said.

’If you don’t want LOTS of attention, I recommend using only telepathy when other Pokemon are around. Foreigners are really unheard of. You could… pretend that you’re mute, or something? Just an idea,’ Perish suggested.

[Morzone]

(Not really sure how, but somehow it got in my head that Knight was a Lucario instead of a Zoroark. Woops!)

Members of Team FireStorm
Fracture Heavens Safehaven
Affected RP'ers:Gef Neo Emolga Alphys LKWayvern

Torch was looking unsure. He glanced at Stone, clearly not really trusting darkrai. Shock had a thoughtful expression, and seemed to be examining darkrai, seeking to find all details, clues, and connections.

Stone however, spoke up. "May I ask for a more detailed description of this escort mission? Moreover, where in the silent tundra are you going, why are you going to that specific place, which 'corrupted' is going to attack and why they are attacking you? If what you speak is true and honest, then there shouldn't be any problems in helping you. However it is unwise to accept missions without knowing more of what is involved."

[The Nonexistent Tazz]

Hyperion/Pheobe/Oceanus
Fullmoon Highway
Cloudview Cliff Safehaven
The Affected: LKWayvern

<"You...Don't say..."> Perish 'said,' sounding very curious.

Pheobe, Hyperion and Oceanus could only look on as the trio of Pokemon before them made their statements to each other in a language they didn't understand. The Gourgeist looked only mildly off-put by that revelation, the Azumarill looked positively shocked, and the Linoone looked positively awestruck. The statements the three made were indecipherable in language, but not so much in tone; the Linoone was clearly the hasty, optimistic sort, the Gourgeist could have Arceus appear drunk and grant her the power over all creation and she wouldn't have flinched, and the Azumarill appeared to be the most rational and concerned of the three.

"...I think our status as Foregin Pokemon is...Bigger than we thought," Pheobe said, mildly curious.

"You don't say?" Hyperion said.

"Well they're not trying to kill us for it..." Oceanus said. "They seem like good folk."

"I still don't trust 'em that quick. That...Prejudice thing, it can run deep," Hyperion said.

Then, the Gourgeist spoke, and Pheobe quickly translated for the other two.

<"Let’s start with the basics,"> Perish began. <"Welcome to Kaelus. I sincerely hope you enjoy your stay because, well… Not a single Pokemon for a very long time has been able to leave, and I don’t recall any Foreigners entering our region before you three, for an equally long period of time. The red clouds above us cover the entire region, and if you go into them they whip up ferocious winds, kicking you back inside at best and killing you at worst. We call them the Bloodcloud Wall, and were constructed by Rayquaza. The creature that attacked you was the Legendary Pokemon which supposedly created the oceans, named Kyogre. Whenever any of us try to leave the region by boat or swimming, we are always attacked by Kyogre, and either forced back to the shore or eaten. Bandits, ferals, Mystery Dungeons, and Legendaries have been running amok for the past several decades, generally making life a living hell.">

Perish took a pause, as Hyperion started to have the revelation sink in. "Wait, we're being attacked by gods?! The crazy Wailord was a Legendary?!"

"It appears so, but...Augh!"

"...What's a Legendary? Or a God?" Oceanus asked.

Hyperion groaned. Pheobe offered to respond. "Uh, basically a powerful being-and I mean 'shapes the world as we know it' powerful being. Some say they reincarnate, some say they're impossible to kill or even injure, and some say they've created the world as we know it and kept it well and prosperous. They'd pray-beg them-to grant good harvest or such...Of course, they're real, and they're using the entirety of their massive power to murder us. Wonderful."

"...I think I scarred the eye of that thing," Oceanus said, having already stated it earlier but conveying a greater meaning.

"I'll be blunt, I thought it was just luck before and I'm only more convinced of it now," Hyperion said.

Perish resumed. <"Roughly 40 years or so ago, though, Pokemon began banding together for protection and shelter. We call these groups ‘Safehavens’. There are five right now. Persevering Spirit, Relic Graveyard, Fractured Heavens, Last Vestige, and the one I lead, Cloudview Cliffs. Most of us have developed a particular specialty. My Safehaven focuses on growing food and medicinal berries for others, and so we have a good relationship with most other Safehavens. At any rate, my betas and I were on our way to a meeting called Fractured Heavens’ leader, when we were attacked by bandits.">

"I suppose we have a favor to pull?" Hyperion asked.

"Don't push our luck. I didn't tell them about the fact we came in on a prisoner boat." Pheobe retorted.

"Farms...Don't sound familiar, nope." Oceanus said, mostly to himself.

The Gourgeist smiled. <"You’re welcome to come stay at our Safehaven. We can find jobs for all three of you. You could become a farmer, train as a medic or a messenger, create a shop of some sort or work as a shopkeeper’s assistant, cook in the kitchens, or even join a scavenger team. Scavenger teams do spend a great deal of time outside the Safehaven, and occasionally have to go into a mystery dungeon, however, but we won’t be sending you on extremely difficult missions right away. I actually used to be on a scavenger team, Team Reminisce.">

They were about to talk more when another newcomer came. Hyperion defensively backed up-and rightfully so, for the thing was a monstrously large construct, a Golurk. How the thing could fly was a mystery to pretty much everyone, but it could, and disturbingly fast (though they weren't the quickest thinkers). As they conversed, it almost looked as if the Linoone, Starr, was about to say something important-perhaps their foreign status-before the Azumarill, Clara, crashed her foot down. Pheobe decided that any further conversation would be handled strictly through telepathy right now.

<"If you don’t want LOTS of attention, I recommend using only telepathy when other Pokemon are around. Foreigners are really unheard of. You could… pretend that you’re mute, or something? Just an idea,"> Perish suggested.

<"Agreed,"> Pheobe 'said,' sending the message to Hyperion and Oceanus as well. <"I don't want everyone looking at us funny. They'll either kill us or be obsessed with us, and neither is good. Until we can learn the language we pass off as being very, very quiet, OK?">

The other two Pokemon just silently nodded.

<"We really don't have anywhere to stay or go and, uhh...Oceanus is good at fighting,"> Pheobe said. <"I think it's in our best interests to stick together for the time being, right? We trust each other, right?">

"I wan to see what this meeting is about..." Oceanus thought.

"I just want to go somewhere safe, and these Safehavens have 'safe' in the name!" Hyperion mentally exclaimed."But I suppose keeping together for the time being is probably for the better..."

Pheobe was in deep thought. Oceanus...She didn't look too hard but she had a good feeling he was as ferocious and powerful as he looked. It would be a waste to put him to doing anything that wasn't labor or joining a Scavenger team (which sounded an awful lot like the Exploration Teams). As for Hyperion, well, he was a thief...And didn't trust him to do anything in the Safehaven, not even shopkeep like he might want to.

Plus...Pheobe herself was mildy intrigued at adventuring and such, and it felt better to actually go about and do something. She did make a Machamp's head explode...It would be a shame if that kind of power went to waste...

<"I think there might be more to discuss between the three of us. Want to tag along with her for now?">

"Sure." Oceanus thought.

"No, I want to go back to the Safehaven." Hyperion thought.

<"Well, they're heading towards a Safehaven, so it looks to be unanimous."> Pheobe 'said.' Hyperion gave her the stink-eye but she didn't care. <"...Do you think we should join a Scavenger Team?">

"I'm fine with that."

"I don't believe so."

<"Well, I do, and with Oceanus that's two of three, a majority. You're outvoted,"> Pheobe 'said.' <"If you feel to disagree, I can inform her that you were a petty thief and con-artist.">

Hyperion looked angry, but quite frankly unable to respond at the idea of his little credibility being destroyed. He was really sour about having said that to two people he was mildly assured would be somewhat appeased by his criminal nature, and not amnesiacs.

Satisfied with the outcome, Pheobe turned to Perish. <"We've decided to go with you, for now at least, and join a Scavenger team of our own. If it isn't much trouble to you, anyways. Would be too much of a shame to let Oceanus'es...Err, combat potential, go to waste.">

[LKWayvern]

RGS, FHS, LVS, PSS
Fractured Heavens Safehaven
ARPers: Neo Emolga, Gef, Alphys, Morzone

“...I do not know which Corrupted will try to attack me, only that there is a very high chance of one or more locating me, and if they locate me then they will attack and attempt to turn me into a Corrupted as well. As I have already told you, it seems to be an instinct of the Corrupted to seek out and corrupt any other Legendary they can find,” Darkrai said. “I… believe there to be a few Legendary Pokemon living in Silent Tundra, who have avoided detection by Corrupted because of how difficult Silent Tundra is to navigate. However, I do not know how many there are, which ones they are, or where exactly they are located inside it. However, most Legendaries can detect the presence of another when close enough, and I am hoping to rely on that to find them when I arrive there.”

“Then again,” Isa said, “He could be lying about this all. He’s had hundreds upon hundreds of years to perfect acting skills, and everyone knows Dark types always lie.”

Aurora frowned at Isa. “But why would you say that? You’re a Dark type, you’re saying that you’re lying, but that’s a… paradox… Ugh.” The swoobat groaned.

Yuko facapalmed. “Isa. This is serious. Please stop toying with everyone’s heads.” Isa shrugged, chuckling.

Darkrai remained silent for the moment.

Perish, Clara, Starr
Fullmoon Highway
ARPers: The Nonexistent Tazz

’We've decided to go with you, for now at least, and join a Scavenger team of our own. If it isn't much trouble to you, anyways. Would be too much of a shame to let Oceanus'es...Err, combat potential, go to waste.’’

Perish nodded. ’Good, good… We can discuss this later today. The golurk is Adflatus. Adflatus is a pet feral, owned by a rotom named Gleam, who when battling possesses Adflatus so he can fight better. Also, Gleam is a beta in Last Vestige Safehaven, which mostly focuses on inventing and engineering things.’

“So, if they’re really that strong, who are they?” Gleam asked.

“The braixen is named Phoebe, the pidgeot is named Hyperion, and the samurott is named Oceanus,” Perish said, nodding at each Foreigner in turn. “They’ve also decided to join our Safehaven, and create a scavenger team.”

Clara and Starr gave the gourgeist confused looks. ‘Telepathy, fill you in later’ Perish mouthed.

Adflatus’ head nodded. “Right. So… To be clear, you don’t have anything important to do on Fullmoon Highway, right?”

“Not unless using it to get to Fractured Heavens counts,” Starr said.

“And are you guys coming, too?” Gleam asked.

“None of them really talk a lot, they communicate through Phoebe’s telepathy,” Perish explained. “And yes, they are coming.”

Adflatus’ face frowned. “...Why?”

“I think they might find that question a bit rude,” Clara said.

“Oh. Right, sorry,” Gleam apologized. “Hmm… We may be slowed down a bit, but I should still be able to fly with all of them. So long as that pidgeot can keep up.”

“Wait, we’re really getting a ride?” Starr asked.

The golurk nodded, and knelt down. Starr let out a cry of excitement, before dashing over to it and clambering up until he was perched on Adflatus’ shoulder.

Clara muttered something, and she and Perish moved to get on to Adflatus. Perish wrapped her arms around the golurk’s arm, while Clara gripped as tightly as she could to its back.

“Hang on tightly,” Gleam hummed.

[The Nonexistent Tazz]

((OOC: Short post, but not much to really say.))

Hyperion/Pheobe/Oceanus
Cloudview Cliff Safehaven
Fullmoon Highway, En-Route to Fractured Heavens Safehaven
The Affected: LKWayvern

<"Good, good… We can discuss this later today. The golurk is Adflatus. Adflatus is a pet feral, owned by a rotom named Gleam, who when battling possesses Adflatus so he can fight better. Also, Gleam is a beta in Last Vestige Safehaven, which mostly focuses on inventing and engineering things."> Perish telepathed to Pheobe, who relayed the information to her teammates likewise. While the Betas and Perish chatted, the trio exchanged mental words at each other-using a mildly more advanced form of telepathy to commune between the three with no middleman, which was somewhat straining on Pheobe's telepathy. It was funny-she got more used to it the more she used it...

"Why specifically must we go on a Scavenger team rather than a safer occupation? I'd be perfectly content running a shop or farming in the Safehaven but-"

<"You know exactly why. Plus, we're the only ones that can directly communicate without telepathy-that can be useful on an island where no-one understands our language. Oh, and we can't just let Oceanus and his talent for violence go to waste...However gritty it gets.">

"Was it really that bad?" Oceanus thought.

<"Yes. Pray that your temper doesn't lose you."> Pheobe replied, looking as Adflatus frowned at a statement Perish made, for some reason.

"I kind of just did what came to me as, well, appropriate." Oceanus thought.

"While attacking bandits sounds all well and good, can we agree that you will have to restrain yourself better in, say, sparring matches?" Hyperion thought.

"A what?"

Pheobe was about to explain when she noticed Starr rush up the Golurk's shoulders. As Clara and Perish moved to climb on...<"I think...I think they're giving us a lift to the Safehaven.">

<"Uhh...So we just climb on?"> Oceanus thought.

<"I think...">

"I'm a fast flier, I can keep up with it, I believe...And I'd rather not get caught alone..." Hyperion thought, forgetting for a second that Pheobe and Oceanus were both listening.

Pheobe climbed and grasped onto the other arm of the Golurk, while Oceanus, having few unoccupied grab points other than the legs (which was risky for its own reasons), opted to wrap around close to the head (but not actually at the neck). Hyperion, meanwhile, took off high, ready to tail Adflatus to the best of his ability.

[Morzone]

Members of Team FireStorm
Fracture Heavens Safehaven
Affected RP'ers: Gef Neo Emolga Alphys LKWayvern

Stone pondered Darkrai's words for a moment before motioning to Shock and torch to come over to him. "What do you two think?"

"I don't like it, it feels like a trap and a trick." Torch said.

"I didn't see any signs that he was lying as he spoke, but he may be good at hiding such signs as well." Shock replied.

Stone thought. "Let's say we agree, what would the situation be?"

"Well, if we went alone its likely we'd run into a legend, possibly multiple legends. We haven't been able to test ourselves against a legend so I can't say for sure, but I highly doubt we'd stand a chance if multiple attacked us. But there's also the possibility we will lose the support of the other pokemon as well as from our own safehaven. The crowds believe legends to be mindless killing monsters and our current leader doesn't like to get involved with dangerous things, or even other safehavens." Shock described.

"A gloomy picture, though if it came to light that some legends were not evil and we'd helped save them as well as helped defeat the evil ones, we could be seen as heroes." Torch added.

"And if it turned out to be true when we refused we wouldn't be doing our jobs" Stone included. All three were silent for a moment before Torch sighed and said,

"We don't need to go to a vote do we? There's only one real option here. I just hope we're strong enough when worst comes to worst."

Shock nodded in agreement and stone turned back to Darkrai.

"In risk of losing our positions as well as a number of other things, Team firestorm accepts your mission, Darkrai."

[Neo Emolga]

Magnum/Apex/Zilch/Sledge
Team Lockdown
Relic Graveyard Safehaven
Affected RPers: Gef Morzone Alphys LKWayvern

Magnum and his followers were extremely skeptical of Darkrai's initial claims. To the Typhlosion, it didn't make the slightest bit of sense for there to be a civil war among the legendaries. In the meantime, he found it hard to imagine a time when the legendaries were once worshipped. The very idea of kneeling before idols and repeating chants and offering tributes to the legendaries was something Magnum couldn't help but be disgusted at.

Upon hearing that it was from an unknown source of corruption, Magnum refused to believe that either and felt it was simply Darkrai attempting a bluff to save his own hide considering he was in a very desperate situation. He also found it amusing that Darkrai claimed he would be able to escape if he were to be attacked with this many Pokémon facing him down.

"You're full of crap!" Zilch shouted. "What proof of this do you have, huh!?"

Stone, however, politely asked for more of the details. Zilch looked at the Rhyperior, wondering why he was willing to believe Darkrai, but decided hearing the dark legendaries bound to be bogus response might be amusing before the order was given to strike him down. Normally, Team Lockdown didn't hesitate or taunt the intended targets before striking, but this was a special case scenario.

Darkrai, instead, only claimed that the Corrupted sought only to spread this unknown corruption even further, and that being relocated to the Silent Tundra was simply to avoid detection. The details were also very vague. Darkrai claimed to not know how many legendary Pokémon were involved and affected.

Isa claimed he was lying, and Zilch nodded, just itching impatiently for the order to go ahead and strike him dead. However, she wasn't expecting what came next.

"In risk of losing our positions as well as a number of other things," Shock told Darkrai and the others. "Team Firestorm accepts your mission."

Zilch looked to the Electrivire like he had suddenly grown two additional heads.

"I hope you're kidding," Zilch spat at him. "You actually believe this vague-sounding crap and you're willing to help him for it!? Do you have any idea how difficult it's going to be to track him again once you drop his sorry carcass off in the Silent Tundra? He doesn't have any proof of any of this! He's desperate and he's bluffing his way out of extermination!"

"Zilch and Isa are right," Magnum growled, a bit aggravated they were having this discussion in the first place. "There's no evidence that any of this idiocy is true. Don't even dare thinking of giving him sanctuary in Silent Tundra. But if you really believe his lies, I say at the bare minimum, we keep him prisoner until he proves his claims are true. But if he can't prove them within a month's time, his life is over."

Zilch wasn't too fond of Magnum's alternate recommendation and would have preferred to just strike Darkrai dead on the spot, but she could see the Typhlosion was trying to negotiate a middle ground to at least justify the kill before the Team Firestorm naysayers. Normally, Zilch wouldn't have considered using a captive legendary, but she could see where leveraging him to achieve more of their goals might be beneficial before they eventually disposed of him.

[LKWayvern]

RGS, FHS, LVS, PSS
Fractured Heavens Safehaven
ARPers: Neo Emolga, Gef, Alphys, Morzone

Darkrai closed his one visible eye, and nodded respectfully to the rhyperior, magmortar, and electivire. “Thank you. Very much.”

Darkrai then turned to Team Lockdown. “I do not have proof, besides this. If I was truly evil and wished you all dead, why in the stars’ name would I be standing here before you? When I battle, I very rarely face my foes head on. I never do so when I am outnumbered and outgunned. I am risking a lot asking you all for help. If I truly wanted you dead, then every night I would torment you with nightmares, driving you deeper into insanity and depression, until you did the deed yourself.” Darkrai crossed his arms. “Nevertheless, there is little I can do to convince you of my innocence. Your team, and leaders, are determined to see me as a coldhearted killer. And therefore nothing I or my kin could ever do would convince you otherwise, am I correct in stating?”

“...I’m willing to let him speak,” Crownless admitted. “But I would not trust him as far as he could throw me.”

Aurora and Silver exchanged a glance.

“...I still don’t know why we’re letting him speak,” Silver huffed.

“I would not object if someone were to accidentally let slip an attack, so we could place him in… custody,” Yuko trailed off.

“And it would be a shame not to study him while in ‘custody’,” Isa continued, using his claws to make air quotes.

Darkrai gave those leaders a disappointed frown.

“I believe him,” Crim said.

Aurora frowned. “Wh--, but why?” Aurora asked.

“Yuko,” Crim asked. “True or false. In myths you have researched, Darkrai is shy, and hates confrontations.”

“...True,” Yuko said. “But… those myths that I study are old. Stories can change over time. Slips of the tongue, exaggerations, metaphors--”

“And does Darkrai, in fact, have the power to drive us insane with nightmares?”

“Darkrai’s the king of nightmares, if anyone can do it it’s him,” Isa said.

“I cannot see any other logical reason why Darkrai would come here, unless he has become suicidal. And if that is the case, I cannot see why he would convince us not to kill him, unless he was so old he had dementia. Or was just crazy,” Crim said, rather bluntly.

“...In that case, I support Crim’s decision,” Knight said.

Silver snorted. “You would.”

“Also,” Crim said. “If there really is a group of Legendaries on my Safehaven’s doorstep, I would prefer to know as soon as possible.”

Knight looked over at Brenton. “...Brenton, you have not spoken your opinion about this…”

The ambipom shrugged. “He can’t kill all of us,” Brenton said. “Like he said. Outnumbered and outgunned. One of us will get him at some point in the fight.”

Crownless crossed his arms and closed his eyes, looking slightly annoyed.

Perish, Clara, Starr, Gleam, Adflatus
Skies Above Kaelus
ARPers: The Nonexistent Tazz

Adflatus flew low in the skies, keeping away from the Bloodcloud Wall. Despite his altitude, however, the golurk did fly rather fast, but at a speed Hyperion would probably be able to keep up with.

In a short period of time at that travelling speed, the small group of Foreigners and Safehaven leaders would soon see a squat concrete building. The grey highway that was Fullmoon Highway ended close to the building.

Adflatus landed outside that building, and Perish, Clara, and Starr disembarked. What looked like an umbreon wearing some kind of lightweight armor ran out from the shadows of the building.

“Gleam, sir! You found the Cloudview Cliffs leaders, then?” the umbreon asked. “And… who are they?”

“Yeah, he did! We’re the group from Cloudview!” Perish said. “And that group is one of our newer teams. We ran into some trouble along the way. Maybe you could show them and my beta Clara to your infirmary?”

“Oh! Of course,” the umbreon nodded. Then its rings glowed brightly as it used Psychic to lift the door of the concrete building. “There are signs inside. They should be able to point the way.”

“Thank you,” Clara said, as the leader and betas headed into the building.

[Morzone]

Members of Team FireStorm
Fracture Heavens Safehaven
Affected RP'ers: Neo Emolga Alphys LKWayvern

Shock and Torch both looked visibly relieved that Crim had believed Darkrai as well. Both had been worried about consequences if she hadn't.

Stone took a step forward and cleared his throat. "If I may say something to the other teams." He paused before continuing,

"There is, in our safehaven, a piece of advertisement for the formation of teams. Below side the exaggerated picture of a group of heroic looking pokemon, there is a code of honor: 'On the honor of our team, we will do our best to do our duty to our safehaven, to help others at all times, to protect the innocent, the weak, the needy, and always put the safety of others first.' "

Stone paused again, seemingly immersed in memory. "Whether its a mere advertisement scheme or a code a team follows to the word, do you not think this covers the purpose of a team? If there's an innocent pokemon in need, is it not our job to make sure they are safe? If Darkrai needs our help, is it not our job to help him? Is the risk truly too great to ignore the possibility of a number of innocent pokemon who need assistance?"

His voice rose, pride swelling in each statement. "Who are we to refuse the possibility of great need? It is our duty to take risks for the sake of others! There is no fault in the team who is willing to put aside certainty and aid those who can not be proven to exist. But I ask you this: Where is the honor of the team who will not go to the aid of those in need merely because there is risk of humiliation and mistake?"

As Stone finished, Shock and Torch watched their leader with some surprise. They hadn't seen him this worked up about a mission in a long time.

[Neo Emolga]

Magnum/Apex/Zilch/Sledge
Team Lockdown
Relic Graveyard Safehaven
Affected RPers: Gef Morzone Alphys LKWayvern

Much to the Typhlosion's dismay, he was overruled by his leader, Crownless, but only ever so slightly. Crim, however, believed Darkrai despite the opinions of many others in the room.

Stone of Team Firestorm tried to persuade the others to listen to Darkrai and observe the code of honor. Magnum, however, found the words hard to swallow, especially in the current situation.

"Risk of humiliation and mistake?" Magnum asked, wondering how Stone could possibly be thinking this way. "I understand your point about protecting the innocent and the needy, but this is different! This isn't an ordinary Pokémon asking for help! I would be willing to help even a Pokémon that wasn't one of our own, but Darkrai is anything but weak, innocent, or needy! He hasn't been able to provide any shred of truth or evidence to these claims!"

Sledge, despite his feelings of compassion, could understand why proof and validation were important to his leader. If any of them were betrayed and killed as a result, it would be devastating to the Safehavens, and they would all feel like fools for having trusted a perceived enemy. The large and heavily built Aggron only wished Darkrai could provide some shred of proof, because he knew himself that speculation and rumors were something Team Lockdown never relied upon and took at full face value until something proved those claims true.

"I want to believe..." Sledge told Stone, looking sympathetic. "I want to believe Darkrai is innocent and perhaps not all legendaries are evil and are out to destroy the Safehavens. But in my time, I have seen too many lives lost and too much devastation. I've made mistakes that I wish I could take back, and I don't want this to be yet another one that burns in my heart. In these dark times, it can be hard to trust outsiders, especially ones that are believed to be affiliated with the enemy."

He then turned to Darkrai, hoping for some kind of mediation between the Pokémon in the room and the dark legendary.

"Darkrai, you need to see things from our perspective as well," the Aggron told him. "Our world has been shattered, darkened, and blighted by the many you considered corrupted, making it vital we distinguish carefully between our friends and foes. Our list of friends and allies grows shorter by the day as many friends and family fall to what you believe are the Corrupted. Because of this, if you cannot prove these claims here, we need proof and promise that you mean no harm, and that your words are true."

Zilch rolled her eyes, thinking Sledge was being way too lenient with Darkrai, but she decided to bear with it solely on the basis of the fact she expected Darkrai to be unable to produce anything and make a complete mockery of himself prior to being exterminated. Meanwhile, Apex the Emolga kept his eyes on Darkrai, analyzing his movements and behaviors at all time, taking in all the nonverbal cues and body language to discern the dark Pokémon's next moves. He knew he needed to be careful and leave nothing to chance, as it could be a very deadly mistake if those details were overlooked.

"You heard him," Magnum told Stone and Darkrai, referring to Sledge's request. "Trust and respect are earned, not given. "I don't take on any mission if I don't trust the client and get the details I need, and neither does the rest of my team. Anyone who does is a fool and will sooner or later end up dead because they assumed everything they believed was true."

Magnum felt it was a strong point that Stone would be hard-pressed to argue against. However, it all came down to what Crownless believed Darkrai should do. If the Nidoking gave the order to follow Darkrai's words, he had to follow them whether he liked it or not.

[LKWayvern]

RGS, FHS, LVS, PSS
Fractured Heavens Safehaven
ARPers: Gef, Alphys, Morzone, Neo Emolga

Darkrai crossed his arms, silently listening to Stone’s speach.

Upon hearing Sledge and Magnum, however, Darkrai closed his eyes.

“...I can tell you the names of the Corrupted. I can tell you their powers that I know of. I can tell you which Legendaries may attempt to aid you, if they knew you would not slay them on sight,” Darkrai said. “I cannot give you proof, because I have no proof you would trust. For years, the Corrupteds have purposefully slaughtered mortal Pokemon. And this is a travesty. If by proof you mean you would like me to go out and drag Reshiram themself into this room so that they may reaffirm that all I have spoken is pure truth, I cannot do that. If you would like me to locate Celebi and Dialga for you, that you may go back in time and witness the events as they happened, to see with your own eyes that I speak the truth, I cannot do that either. I have no solid evidence, no signed confession of the guilt of a Corrupted, and you have proven you refuse to trust my words alone.” The Dark Legendary sighed, opened his eyes, and turned to Sledge. “I was not expecting many teams to trust me, let alone accept my mission. If you are determined to see me as a villain, why are you so focused on my providing evidence to the contrary? Nevertheless.. Promise that I will not harm you, unless you attack me with intention to kill, I can readily give. And as for your second request, I am going to ask you. What kind of proof would make you believe me?”

It was at this point that Perish, Starr, and Adflatus entered the room.

The three stared at Darkrai. Perish and Darkrai in particular seemed to make eye contact for several seconds, before Perish broke eye contact and glanced about the room.

“...What’d we miss??” Starr asked, sounding very confused, as was understandable.

[The Nonexistent Tazz]

((The skip is mildly annoying but in this case it honestly works well as I can cut to the chase and get on the same page as everyone else. Also, the 4th member of this impromptu team will probably be introduced after this post...))

Hyperion/Pheobe/Oceanus
Cloudview Cliff Safehaven
Fullmoon Highway, En-Route to Fractured Heavens Safehaven
The Affected: LKWayvern Neo Emolga Morzone Alphys Gef

Only a few seconds behind Perish and Starr came Hyperion, Pheobe and Oceanus. Given their states they must have looked sorry compared to the other teams, present and professional, though to be fair they were just recently named, were probably going to be outfitting themselves shortly, and no-one was going to give a single pile of soot for that, there was a Legendary trying to have civil conversation. For the trio, this was just after being told Legends were basically out to slaughter them.

A few minutes before, they weren't expecting much of the Safehaven. It was a square concrete building for pete's sake. Hyperion was especially displeased, and suddenly reconsidered the idea of being in a Scavenger Squad as such a bad thing if it meant he got to stretch his wings.

The building was deceptive, however. For one, clearly the building was made to withstand attacks. For another, it was also made to hide the fact that, beneath it, it was jammed to the gills with Pokemon. Pokemon everywhere, doing everything imaginable. One pitching a product, one delivering a rudimentary newspaper, one even farming, and a dozen or so people wearing the Dark Red that occasionally appeared in banners. The walls were metal, the floor was the odd stone that appeared on the 'Fullmoon Highway,' and on any other day it might have been the sight for some archaeologists to excitedly pour over, but here it was a bustling city the likes of which none of the trio had ever seen. They passed by Pokemon that none of them had ever even seen before. Pheobe swore she saw another Shiny Pokemon, even.

It only made Hyperion feel even better about being drafted, in effect, but that was hardly a concern now. The real concern was that everyone was in close proximity to a Legendary Pokemon.

It certainly did not make their odds of survival look good, even if this didn't seem to come to blows. They came in on a very critical juncture and it appears they might wind up being shoved into a situation.. It just seemed to be one calamity after another. Perish, by contrast, stared the legend direct in the face for several seconds, perhaps a testament to just how serene she could be. Almost a bit detached, really. Starr seemed much less calm about it, though, and really mirrored the trio's expressions of surprise, sans the hints of despair in Hyperion and Pheobe's face.

Oceanus, meanwhile, just kind of took this in like he was hearing of unexpected rainstorm. Mildly confusing but hardly bothersome.

<"This certainly wasn't my idea of a way to start our new careers,"> Pheobe telepathed to the other two.

"So do I kill him?" Oceanus asked, absentmindedly.

"Didn't you hear the bit on Legends being the creators of our world? He'd just kill you before you could attack! Don't even try it! Plus, this seems to be resolving itself," Hyperion thought back.

<"Yeah...Yeah,"> Pheobe telepathed.

"Sooo...What are they talking about?" Oceanus asked.

<"I don't know, we've just arrived,"> Pheobe responded. <"Probably something to do with...Darkrai? His name is Darkrai, yes, I think...Mythological Pokemon of Nightmares...>

She looked around the room, primarily steeled for questions but also for answers, and hoping she and the others didn't step on a proverbial landmine just by walking in. Hyperion just kept his eyes on the potentially-deadly Legend. Oceanus just stared at everything, trying to absorb it all, with all the teams and leaders and colors, and everyone looking at this Darkrai figure...He didn't look too special to Oceanus.

[Neo Emolga]

Magnum/Apex/Zilch/Sledge
Team Lockdown
Relic Graveyard Safehaven
Affected RPers: Gef Morzone Alphys LKWayvern

Magnum wasn't sure what to make of Darkrai's promises. It seemed to him that the dark legendary Pokémon wanted to help and was willing to provide all the names of the Corrupted, but he simply didn't have the truly authentic proof that Magnum and Zilch would be willing to trust.

At that moment, with nothing left to go by, both Magnum and Zilch looked to Apex the Emolga, who had been watching him the entire time. The electric squirrel nodded, and then sighed.

"He shows no signs of lying," Apex confirmed before everyone else in the room, "His body language confirms his frustration and desperation, but there was no sign of fabrication in his words. Had he been lying, his eyes would have been glancing upward and darting around, but I didn't see any of that."

The Emolga also knew there was no way Darkrai could have prepped responses for all the possible reactions and questions the Safehavens would have countered him with. It did surprise Apex, for it was the very first time any legendary passed his scrutiny without portraying signs of deception. He never thought he would see it happen, but there it was and he wasn't about to question his own judgment, training, and experience.

Magnum tapped his foot a few times, looked down, and just spoke with frustration. He was having difficulty accepting this, but the signs were pointing toward an outcome that if Darkrai really was speaking the truth and Team Lockdown had killed him, they were risking a consequence far worse than allowing one guilty legendary to escape.

However, before he could make a confirmation, Perish, Starr, and Adflatus entered the room, followed by Hyperion, Pheobe, and Oceanus. Starr was confused, and Magnum didn't feel like relaying the entire story of what had happened in the meantime. He figured someone else could catch them up to speed or they could learn most of it just by watching.

"If these words are true," Magnum told Darkrai, looking straight into his eyes, "then give us the names of those Corrupted and we'll seek them out and destroy them. I don't trust outsiders easily and never dreamed I would find myself even dealing with a legendary, but you've lasted this long in front of me and my team and haven't done anything stupid that would cause us to believe otherwise. For now, you've earned a very slight sliver of my trust, but it would be a brutal mistake to betray that or use it unthinkingly."

Zilch was silent for a moment, looking at Magnum with a questioning gaze for just a short glance, but then looked back to Darkrai.

"You're lucky." Zilch spat at Darkrai. "Damn are you lucky."

"If we are to work together," Sledge nodded, glad the tensions and aggression were dying down, "we must trust and support each other. When one calls for aid, the other must answer. We will help you, Darkrai, as we will need your help in return if this mission is to be a success."

Apex knew it was going to be hard for Magnum to accept this and work with it, but he could agree with Sledge's words. There was no doubt the alliance would be shaky to put it mildly, but it was rare that most alliances were firmly laid in stone right from the start.

This was one that was going to need time and cooperation from both sides to be built strong.

[LKWayvern]

RGS, FHS, LVS, PSS, CCS
Fractured Heavens Safehaven
ARPers: Gef, Noblejanobii, Morzone, Neo Emolga, The Nonexistent Tazz

‘...He’s safe. If he wanted to attack us, everyone in this room would’ve been in a coma by now.’ Perish told the Foreigners. ‘By the way… Have you thought of a team name yet, or are you still thinking it over?’

“I am aware that I am lucky. I’m very certain the only reason I’ve survived thus far is due to my luck,” Darkrai sighed. “Thank you for any trust you’ve given me. I really appreciate it.”

He closed his thoughts, counting off Corrupteds on his fingers. “The Legendaries that I know are Corrupteds used to be known as Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Raikou, Entei, Lugia, Groudon, Kyogre, Jirachi, Regigigas, Mesprit, Giratina, Meloetta, Cobalion, Keldeo, Genesect, Xerneas, and Diancie. The Legendaries which were Corrupted, but have since been killed are Ho-oh, Regirock, Regice, Registeel, Deoxys, Thundurus, Tornadus, and Victini. I know that the thing Groudon became, Drought, is sleeping somewhere beneath the Emerald Mountains. I believe Jirachi and Diancie are down there too. You know where Deluge, the thing that Kyogre became, is. Since Deluge cannot leave the ocean, so long as you don’t go in the ocean you should be safe from them. The birds, Lugia, Genesect, Mesprit, Cobalion, Keldeo, Regigigas, and Raikou and Entei have been roaming Kaelus. Giratina has been trapped in another dimension for some time, too.”

Darkrai paused, trying to gather his thoughts again. “As for Legendaries that may help you… If you managed to find Mew, she would not hesitate to do so. I believe Celebi would help as well, but I have not seen her for some times and I’m unsure if she is even on this plane of existence anymore. Latios was killed, and Latias fled… I think she would help, as well, if you could find her. Azelf would help. Shaymin… I’m unsure about Shaymin. She’d want to return Kaelus to how it was before all this, but I also know that Relic Graveyard killed her mate. Zygarde would help, but I’m not sure if he’s alive or dead…”

Perish nodded, pretending she knew exactly what was going on. “...If we’re going to be sending Scavenger Teams after these Corrupteds, I suggest we keep several teams at the bases. Darkrai did say that some were roaming. And it wouldn’t be the first time a wandering Corrupted tried attacking a Safehaven.”

‘Seems that we’re having a… shaky alliance of some sort. And some teams are being sent out to hunt down Legendaries. You three should probably stay, however,’ Perish instructed.

[Noblejanobii]

Team Camelot
Persevering Spirits Safehaven
Affected RPers: Gef, LKWayvern, Morzone, Neo Emolga, The Nonexistent Tazz

Arthur and his team exchanged silent looks. They had decided it was best to remain silent while Darkrai spoke. Mordred counted off in his head the legendaries that were mentioned and narrowed his eye in confusion. Certain legendaries were missing. That was concerning.

"Darkrai," all attention turned to Lancelot as he spoke. "I believe my teammates and I are on the same page, but we wish to aid you in whatever way possible. We would prefer not to be sidelined, but if we should be assigned to protecting a Safehaven we would understand. It may be against the will of our superiors and comrades, it is hard to tell with all the tension in the room, but… we were formed to help Pokemon in need, no matter who they are, and you fall under that category as well."

"If I may," Mordred interjected as he floated forward tentatively, "I just have a question, Darkrai. He failed to mention several legendaries. Is it because you do not know of their location or is it because you think they will be unwilling to help? Because even if they are unwilling to help, it might be a good idea to at least know where their possible location is."

"I can also recommend one team from the Persevering Spirits Safehaven for protection duty. They're Team Avalon, consisting of Rai the Salamence, Fei the Gardevoir, Jordan the Lucario, and Etho the Greninja," Arthur added. "They are very strong and would be more than willing to help."

[LKWayvern]

RGS, FHS, LVS, PSS, CCS
Fractured Heavens Safehaven
ARPers: Gef, @Alphys, Morzone, Neo Emolga, The Nonexistent Tazz

Darkrai closed his eyes. “...I named only Legendaries that are willing to help, are Corrupted, or were Corrupted and then killed. Multiple Legendaries, for a variety of reasons, have died. Many others are not on this plane at all, in hiding.” He paused. “...Manaphy tried leaving Kaelus to tell others what was happening, and was eaten by Kyogre. Rayquaza wanted to keep all the Legendaries inside the region, so that they could not destroy the rest of the world, and so used up all his life force in creating the Bloodcloud Wall to keep those he could inside. Dialga and Palkia made a pocket in space time, and hid with Celebi and Hoopa there, as they are the only four capable of space-time travel besides Giratina. One of the Corrupteds smashed Arceus’ Plates, causing him to weaken and die. And my sister, Cresselia, saw in what she believed to be a prophetic dream that any future with her in it leads to a Corrupted breaking out of the Bloodcloud Wall and reshaping the world in a negative way. So she wandered Fullmoon Highway until she encountered a scavenger team capable of killing her, and allowed them to do so. The others… I don’t know if they’re alive or dead. I have not seen them in a very long time.”

[Noblejanobii]

Team Camelot
Persevering Spirits Safehaven
Affected RPers: Gef, LKWayvern, Morzone, Neo Emolga, The Nonexistent Tazz

Silence struck Team Camelot. Lancelot and Mordred did not seem all that affected, but Arthur and Kay seemed to be shaken quite a bit at this information. Arthur looked at his brother in despair. This could not be true, could it? Was the god they had believed in and prayed to since the beginning of their lives really... dead? Kay's hands curled into fists. He grit his fangs and shook his head. Arthur saw the anger rising in Kay and put his hand on Kay's shoulder to stop him, but Kay merely slapped away Arthur's hand, glaring down Darkrai.

"You liar! That simply cannot be true! The Lord Rayquaza... he cannot simply be dead! Not after everything my tribe taught me! Not after all the years I spent believing that I was doing his will by rescuing pokemon from the dangers outside the safehavens! It simply cannot be true! I refuse to believe someone as great as he is dead! You are lying!" Kay took a step towards Darkrai, flames escaping his lips. Arthur quickly stepped in between Darkrai and Kay, a stern look on his face.

"Brother! Get a hold of yourself!" Arthur sighed and put his hand on Kay's shoulder. "I know these are not the words we wished to hear. I... I do not know how to take them either, especially with everything the tribe taught us as children but we cannot just assume they are lies. Sir Darkrai has shown no reason to lie to us up until now, why would he start with the identities of the dead? It is hard to accept, yes, but we must live with it and move on." Arthur took a deep breath and turned back around to face Darkrai. "I apologize, both for my brother's actions and for my son's question to you that would require you to recall the death of your sister. I know it must be painful to relive. Please accept my apologies."

[Neo Emolga]

Magnum/Apex/Zilch/Sledge
Team Lockdown
Relic Graveyard Safehaven
Affected RPers: Gef Morzone Noblejanobii LKWayvern The Nonexistent Tazz

Darkrai had laid out the status in terms of what legendaries had fallen under the corruption and which ones might be allies. Magnum was aware of a few of the ones that had already been killed, but the ones that were still at large were not a surprise. As expected, their list of potential allies was small compared to the enemies they still had to deal with. Team Camelot was surprised that Rayquaza had been among those dead, but for Magnum, it was barely consequential.

Magnum put Darkrai's list of targets to memory and began to work his way down the line around what he knew about each of them. All legendary Pokémon could be dangerous, but some were obviously more dangerous than others. Those that could bring about the apocalypse or held elemental powers that could devastate the world were top priority for elimination.

"The strongest of these Corrupteds need to be assassinated first," Magnum declared before the council. "And nothing about them can be allowed to be heard by the others. No evidence, no news, no nothing. The bodes need to be destroyed completely once the deeds have been done."

Despite the size and strength of many legendaries, it seemed as though from what the Typhlosion knew surrounding the knowledge and legends of these Corrupted Pokémon, it was actually one of the smaller ones that he felt held the most amount of threat.

"Team Lockdown will personally see that Jirachi is the first to be eliminated," Magnum stated in a cold, hard tone. "No other Pokémon has as much potential to undo everything we've done and then some as one that can grant virtually any desire. From there, Groudon, Kyogre, and Regigigas will be the next on our list."

Zilch, despite her previous displeasure from the alliance with Darkrai, was feeling better about the challenge she and the rest of her team was about to take on. Her dark imagination was festering with the thoughts about how these was going to deal those brutal, killing blows and the satisfaction she was going to get from each of them.

"If anyone has any leads on those Pokémon and where to find them, we could use them as soon as you hear something," Apex the Emolga requested from the rest of the council. "We don't have much time and our intel is limited, but we can be resourceful with just about anything you know or discover."

Apex took a glance at Zilch and her dark smile of anticipation, but he knew it wasn't going to be easy to track and kill such powerful legendaries. However, he was confident that his team was one of the best and most well equipped for the task.

[LKWayvern]

RGS, FHS, LVS, PSS, CCS
Fractured Heavens Safehaven
ARPers: Gef, @Alphys, Morzone, Neo Emolga, The Nonexistent Tazz


Darkrai, who had previously been slouching slightly, suddenly straightened up, becoming visibly several inches taller. His eye brightened, and his voice seemed to be raspier and more intense.

“I do not lie! Rayquaza’s death was honorable, he sacrificed himself doing what he believed would protect the rest of the world from the disaster here in Kaelus! I spoke with him, he had seen what had happened to Kyogre and Groudon and did not want to become a weapon of wanton annhilation! Me, my sister, Latias and Latios and Shaymin and Landorus, we saw him enter his Mega form, confront Vainglory and Supernova, and use his very lifeblood to create a maelstrom of clouds that not only destroyed two Corrupteds, but also contained the rest of them within a single region! He saved the rest of the world and I will not hear his sacrifice sullied!”

Darkrai let out a hoarse, pent up breath. “I do not doubt that Rayquaza would be happy that Pokemon rescue others from extreme danger in his name. But I do not deceive about his demise. Especially not when Legends greater than he have fallen, too. His equal, Giratina, was Corrupted and sealed away. His other equals, Kyurem and Zygarde, I am unsure if they are dead and alive. And one of the Sentinels of Creation, Arceus, was one of the first to die, and the reason that many Legendaries fled to the mortal plane…”

Darkrai stopped, slouching again, and staring vacantly. Upon hearing Arthur, he rubbed his face roughly with one clawed hand. “...It is alright. I assume you were raised with Rayquaza as a deity, taught as many were in the distant past that Legendaries are immortal, omnipotent, infallible. It must be a shock to hear your deity is dead… I would be similarly shaken had I been told centuries ago that this entire situation would ever occur, ever… Nevertheless the past is set, and even if we could convince Dialga to change the past, it would cause paradoxes giving us equal trouble in a different way…”

Darkrai turned his attention to Team Lockdown. “I would not underestimate Lugia, or Hurricane as I call her now, as she seems to have some measure of control over the three birds. I am unsure of where, exactly, Jirachi is. I have been calling her ‘Curse’.”

Yuko frowned. “Jirachi… It can go into hibernation, correct? Perhaps you can find it while it’s asleep, and then finish it off then.”

“Incorrect. Curse does not need to sleep. However, the more sleep they have gotten recently, the more powerful wishes they can grant,” Darkrai said.

“When do you think you’ll be heading out?” Brenton asked. “You’ll be needing supplies, to cross the Emerald Mountains.”

“As soon as possible,” Darkrai suggested.

[Noblejanobii]

Arthur/Kay/Lancelot/Mordred
Team Camelot
Persevering Spirits Safehaven
Affected RPers: Gef, LKWayvern, Morzone, Neo Emolga, The Nonexistent Tazz

Arthur and Kay's expressions both fell at the confirmation of their deity's death. Arthur sighed and scratched the back of his head. He was not sure what to think. His main driving focus had always been to please Rayquaza, but knowing that the deity was dead... it was somewhat shocking and Arthur felt that some of his determination to move on was gone. Was everything about his core beliefs a lie now? Or was it just this piece? Arthur looked over at his brother and suddenly felt even worse for even considering his feelings first before his brother's! Kay, having been raised under the beliefs longer than Arthur, was probably feeling much worse than Arthur ever would. Arthur began to search for the words to comfort his brother when he felt a tug on his hand. Arthur looked down and saw Mordred. He also gained Kay's attention.

"Um... I'm not sure how much help it will be, but... he did say that Rayquaza would be proud to hear that pokemon are rescuing others in his name. Rayquaza would be proud of you, and I know that's little consolation but it must help a little, right?" Arthur smiled and chuckled a little. He bent down to his adopted son and nodded.

"Indeed it does. Thank you, Mordred. I appreciate it. I know this isn't as shocking to you, given you weren't completely raised in these beliefs like we were, but we still taught you some of them, so I understand if you might be feeling a little confused as well. It is wrong of me to consider myself before my fellow teammates, so I must ask, are you and Lancelot all right?" Lancelot gave a short shrug.

"No offense, but I was never really into this deity stuff, especially not after the legendaries started attacking us. With this new information, I might have been willing to give it a shot, but it seems most of the ones I'd be willing to put my faith in are either dead or corrupted." Lancelot and Arthur turned their attention to Mordred.

"I am... okay I guess. I am not quite sure what to believe, but I understand that if the deity is dead, we should still continue to serve in his name, since he obviously died serving us, we need to show that we appreciate his efforts and continue forth from there." Arthur couldn't be prouder of Mordred. It seemed the Aegislash had picked up a thing or two from his mentors over the years. Arthur stood back up and looked at Darkrai.

"It's been decided, we will not abandon our faith despite our deity no longer being alive. His name and memory still lives on in us and others," Arthur said to his team. Arthur turned to Darkrai and spoke, "As I mentioned before, there are teams in Persevering Spirits that would be more than willing to aid your journey. But, wherever you think we would be best fit, please let us know. Team Camelot is at your command."

[Neo Emolga]

Magnum/Apex/Zilch/Sledge
Team Lockdown
Relic Graveyard Safehaven
Affected RPers: Gef Morzone Noblejanobii LKWayvern The Nonexistent Tazz

Magnum nodded when he heard Darkrai's warning about Lugia, also known as "Hurricane." He didn't doubt her power, but was simply trying to determine at least the first handful of the most severe threats that needed to be eliminated. But "Curse" was something that even troubled the battle-seasoned Typhlosion. Jirachi, despite its docile appearance, could unleash wishes that could guarantee complete devastation... if not something even more diabolical.

"I assure you, this 'Hurricane' you speak of will be dealt with just like all the others," Magnum told Darkrai. "We don't underestimate our adversaries. And we will carry out the assassination, but don't expect it to be done with honor or anything frivolous like that. The kill will be brutal but effective, even if it needs to be done dishonorably. This is simply how we do things here."

He didn't have much to work with when it came to finding Jirachi, but Magnum had his means. These legendaries were dangerous, brutal, and would think nothing less of causing torment and destruction to all those that stood in their way. If it meant finding another Pokémon and forcing them to rat out the legendary's location, it would have to be done. To him, the ends would justify the means.

"We don't have a whole lot of time here, so unless anyone else needs something from us, we're on the move," Magnum told the others.

He didn't care about Team Camelot's reaction to hearing about Rayquaza's death. In his mind, he felt it was about time they let it go and have one less distraction weighing them down. But he didn't dwell on it for too long.

They had a mission and work to get done.

[LKWayvern]

RGS, FHS, LVS, PSS, CCS
Fractured Heavens Safehaven
ARPers: Gef, @Alphys, Morzone, Neo Emolga, The Nonexistent Tazz

“...” Darkrai seemed somewhat taken aback by how Arthur spoke to him. When he spoke again his voice seemed even lower. “...I have never been in a leading position. Nor do I believe that I deserve one… I am not powerful in typical combat, I am not a skilled strategist, I am not exceedingly knowledgeable or wise, and I am not brave. The only reason I am alive now is due to my skill at hiding, and my inclinations to stay out of the spotlight. My only skills of note are my observation skills, my power over nightmares, and a talent for hiding… I don’t think I would be very good at commanding a fighting force.”

Then he turned to Team Lockdown again. “...My preferred mode of attack is driving my foe to gibbering insanity through relentless nightmares. I know I do not stand a chance in a fair fight. And the Corrupted have not been true Legendaries in some time. Though it would be wonderful to find a way to cure them… There is no case of a Corruption being reversed, and no cure to my knowledge. They have damaged greatly the world they helped create, killed their former kin, and as far as I can tell any trace of the Legend they once were has been long dead. Dispatch them however you please… They long since lost the right to an honorable and dignified death. And I am ready whenever everyone else is.”

“I have supplies and can leave immediately,” Crim confirmed, glancing and Knight, who nodded.

[Noblejanobii]

Arthur/Kay/Lancelot/Mordred
Team Camelot
Persevering Spirits Safehaven
Affected RPers: Gef, LKWayvern, Morzone, Neo Emolga, The Nonexistent Tazz

"Even so," Arthur replied, "Team Camelot is at your disposal. Though I believe our preference would be a non-killing role, we would not be opposed to handling the disposal of a corrupted." Lancelot looked over at Crim and Knight. Perhaps they had a suggestion as to what Team Camelot should do. The Weavile approached the leaders and spoke up,

"Do either of you have a preference as to what role we perform? Shall we escort someone else or maybe search for a legendary to ally with?"

[Neo Emolga]

Magnum/Apex/Zilch/Sledge
Team Lockdown
Relic Graveyard Safehaven
Affected RPers: Gef Morzone Noblejanobii LKWayvern The Nonexistent Tazz

Darkrai had told Magnum the Typhlosion that Corruption simply couldn't be reversed, and also gave him and his team free reign on how they wanted to eliminate them.

"It'll be done," Magnum assured Darkrai, actually looking forward to this part of the deal.

With their team leader's command, Team Lockdown had headed out. Magnum, despite his differences with trusting Darkrai prior to the discussion, was reassured when Darkrai would not question or restrict his methods. Killing something as powerful as a legendary Pokémon required everything they could use at their disposal. Cheap ploys, brutal and merciless tactics, and dishonorable methods of attack were things that Team Lockdown simply did to get the job done in a very means justifying the ends pattern.

Magnum's first objective was to find stakeholders that suffered from the existence of legendaries. Whether they were Pokémon that had suffered before or were at serious risk of suffering from them, he knew they could be a very reliable source of intelligence and information considering both sides stood to gain from their immediate elimination. There were those that wanted revenge and protection...

...and Team Lockdown was in a position to provide both no matter what the cost.

[LKWayvern]

RGS, FHS, LVS, PSS, CCS
Fractured Heavens Safehaven
ARPers: Gef, @Alphys, Morzone, Neo Emolga, The Nonexistent Tazz


Darkrai thought a few moments, about Lancelot’s offer. “...If you could find Shaymin or Mew, I am certain they would ally with you immediately. Celebi might, too. Unfortunately, I am unsure if any of them are alive or dead. And there is no one else I can think of who would need escorting, unless one of the leaders here wished to return home.” Darkrai turned to Team Lockdown. “Shall we leave, then?”


Crim and Knight stood up, apparently ready to leave now.

[Gef]

Team Double-Take! (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?10698-PMD-Neverending-Nightmare(SU)&p=211538&viewfull=1#post211538)
Location: Fullmoon Highway, approaching Fractured Heavens
@LKWayvern — Yuko
One figure, two forms. Noon squinted and strained against the sand in the air, all the while her head pounding like an intensified heartbeat, the presence before her wavering between two amorphous simulacrums over and over again even as she implored herself to focus. Something had triggered the pain to rise in a calamitous crescendo and now the tempestuous migraine, having reached its peak, turned her vision into blurred streaks and shapeless clouds; eventually, she conceded to the agony in her vexation and exhaustion. She let her neck sag and nearly collapsed onto her knees. She screwed her eyes shut.

"Noon, enlighten my ancient eyes." Are you shitting me? The Girafarig did not open her eyes—she obstinately screwed them tighter—and she imagined the Zwelious hastily tossing filthy hair about in an attempt to peer past her bangs. "Have we been approached?"

"Yes." Though her preferred response was, "I didn't know I was the team's seeing-eyes now, and obviously since we've stopped", she would never say it. Still, there was an evident edge to her voice, one at which Heckle was keen at discerning and she could feel the Zweilous' haunches rising, for what the rightmost head hated most was implied insubordination.

"Who is it?" Jyde's snarl was less stoic, more ardent and desperate. Noon visualized smoke lifting from his jowls like drool from the ravenous. The aroma was so familiar, she felt she could scent it even from her considerable distance ahead on the side of the highway, past all the wind and dust, both of which were finally beginning to settle. With it, the raging storm in her head ebbed away into a more infrequent pulse-pulse-pulse.

She took advantage of the dwindling pain—mostly for the Zweilous' sake, if she was to be entirely truthful—to peer across the vacant landscape at their acquaintance standing solidly against the sullied sky, twenty feet away. Her first impression was that they were dead. There was a distinctive, cadaver-like quality about them, one she chalked down to their starkly inorganic coat, glinting in the dirty light, and their cold expression, flat against a chapped, conical face, with eyes more jaundiced than a scintillating gold; for some inexplicable reason, Noon expected them to be a gorgeous golden color. The way this corpse-like creature stood and the aura it projected were so deceptively regal, so deceivingly grandiose, that she felt a pang of pity regarding the now-faded blue of its metallic pelt, its now-gnarled horns, and the clump of tangled hair beneath the creature's sturdy chin. The inscriptions they'd all came across on many instances portrayed this Legend as being, truly, a Legend, an intimidating yet fair and justice-seeking ruler. But Noon's sympathy was swiftly overridden and, suddenly, she was hit with the sensation of dread.

"Good... gracious, it's—"

"What, child?" Heckle rasped as the winds began to build again. Dry earth left insecure by the sparse patches of life surged upwards and around them.

"Damn weather!" Jyde cursed aloud. The dust storm took advantage of his moment of weakness and he was soon sent spluttering, spitting out arid soil, an action which disturbed the rightmost Heckle. "Deplorable," she muttered, and expectantly, Jude overheard her and spat back, "Shut up!"

The debris simply slid off Cobalion who, Noon noticed, never looked directly at any of her teammates. Their jaundiced gaze stared ahead, purposely past them all, and the Girafarig could not reason if they were ignoring everyone out of conceit or could not regard any of them at all.

Within her, the dread began to swell. "We might have to deal with a Legendary today, guys."

Silvia appeared at her side, now, from the distance, violet fur tousled and tangled with grit and her face contorted anomalously into a look of pure contempt and hatred. The gentle way in which she cradled the blanketed bundle in her arms contrasted with her clenched teeth, her darkly furrowed brow. "What Legendary? Where?" She barked her inquisitions ardently. She either shuddered in the chilling wind out of exhaustion or anger, and if it was the former, it didn't matter, for the yearning to lash out hung about her like a heavy smog.

Annie was there to repress her; she felt her tail send a discouraging glower in the Aipom's direction. "It's Cobalion," Noon then proclaimed. The name had an unprecedented effect, on her before anyone else. Suddenly, that growing hesitance inundated within her, spilling over and out her mouth, and she couldn't stop from talking loudly over the rising winds. "We just saw them on the walls yesterday, in that ruin! They were the one with the horns that were shaped like lightning bolts a-and it said they had never been defeated 'cause they always 'fought for their friends' or something a-and they were literally made of steel...!"

"What does it want?" Heckle asked coldly in her raucous voice. Jyde had taken upon his a solemn and reflective silence.

"I-I don't...!" Noon nearly went hoarse herself, her voice high and wavering with alarm dying in the sharp lashes of the wind. She coughed as the dust nearly entered her throat, beat her long lashes furiously to protect her eyes from the onslaught. All the while, she pleaded within her mind: Don't panic. Don't panic. It's your responsibility to stay calm.

"I can't tell. They're just standing there. They're not really even looking at us."

"Does that mean it won't notice if we kick its ***?" Silvia's remark was dour, tenebrious. It just lifted over the upsurging dust storm as its winds started to calm again.

They all peered icily from the roadside, Cobalion still inflexible and unmoving, eyes vaguely tracing the horizon, the faraway mountain range. Noon was petrified and solution-less whilst Silvia, with all her unsolvable rage, would need to remain beside her.

It was the Zweilous that confronted the Legendary. They stepped onto to the highway and roared.

"Cobalion!" bellowed the leftmost head. "We of the Fractured Heavens sanctuary command you to explain yourself! We know your kind. We are in the full right to demand your intentions."

Jyde's dauntless shout darkened gradually as it proceeded and the Zweilous bared its fangs and crouched down upon its painted legs imposingly. It was then Cobalion's gaze shifted onto the Dragon and lingered there, as expressionless and living-dead as they had been throughout the encounter. Jyde and Heckle must have felt their contemplation and thus mimicked the rigid stillness of the Legend, heads tilted upwards as if they could regard their target, and from there the stare-down commenced. The dust flew up, wracking both Pokemon with stinging granules which coalesced in their mangled hair, threatened their eyes and nostrils, and still the Zweilous and Cobalion refrained from even the slightest of movement. Noon shuffled her front hooves in anticipation, Silvia attempted to draw her neckerchief over her mouth, and as the winds settled for a third time, the two Pokemon stood unmoved.

But, then, Jyde began to shudder. "Damn you..." His low hiss split the silence, and as the Legendary continued to stand unaffected, he burst out severely, "SPEAK!"

Silvia grimaced. "Can it even do that?" she jeered.

Cobalion then did something extraordinary: it blinked. A sign of life, finally, and then, even more audaciously, it tempted a step forward, and then another. It positioned itself as if threatening to bolt away, but Team Double-Take! was prepared to enlighten them on this mistake.

Heckle threw back her head with a earth-shattering roar. Battle cry! And they all launched onto the gravel of Fullmoon Highway.

Silvia reached their opponent first, springing from her quadruped running stance onto her front arms and then spinning forwards, her hand-tipping tail swinging around and ready to come crashing down on Cobalion's skull like a war hammer. The crushing blow was never delivered, however, as her Brick Break technique was intercepted with the Legendary's artful use of their horns, ducking right to hook the Aipom's tail between them, cutting the move short and abruptly jerking Silvia in their direction. The intention was to slam her, while snagged, into the road, which the Aipom caught onto and improvised around it; her third hand established a tight grip onto one of her captor's horns and, athletically, she swung herself around to loop her long tail around Cobalion's neck. And yet, her hold did not last long, as in a grandiose flash of light and the sound of splintering steel, shards of metal burst from the Legendary's pelt, sending Silvia catapulting off with a ear-piercing scream. The Legend swiftly followed up with a devastating headbutt, bounding towards the Aipom who was still in midair, which sent her tiny form tumbling through the air before plummeting and bouncing off onto the arid terrain beside the street.

"Silvia's down!" Noon announced and, under Agility's influence, raced to her teammate's aide as Jyde and Heckle addressed their opponent.

The Zweilous staggered into the Steel-type's path, the leftmost head exhaling smoke from his nostrils before belching forth a brilliantly-fervid blast of flame that torched the ground before his feet, but not the target.

"You moron!" Heckle scathed, forcing their body forwards. Her step shook the earth, shattered the stone underneath their feet, as a solid crack in the highway's surface emerged and traveled towards the target, and, suddenly, the ground opened up around the wary Cobalion and they were consumed in a tremendous, crimson-colored upsurge of terrific power.

And yet, when such power died away, leaving the ground upturned and demolished, the Legend remained in its wake entirely unharmed, surrounded by a subtle, shimmering, dome-like barrier, one which melted away like a trick of the light.

The rightmost Zweilous head, outraged, exclaimed, "Fiend! How dare you!" This was in-response to Jyde who she viciously lashed out at and who indignantly returned to favor. Cobalion turned their attention away from them and onto the Girafarig.

Noon was attending Silvia, hastily digging through the various pockets of her team's piled-on carrying bags for something of satisfaction. The Aipom was mainly disoriented, though her hands had bleeding cuts from catching her devastating fall and an earlier wound at the base of her tail had opened up upon impact. On top of things, she was evidently exhausted, as they all were from the mission, and far from ready for combat, not that she or anyone else could afford to use that as an excuse.

"Found a stirus." She laid the berry at her team member's feet. "Eat it."

"I'm seeing in, like, threes right now," the Aipom giggled out of delirium, arms fumbling in the dirt for the little yellow berry which she then gratuitously placed on the tip of her tongue. "Ahahaha! Everything hurts..."

"I know. I'm sorry," the Girafarig soothed, hearing the earth fracture, knowing the Zweilous could hold their own against the Legend as they prepared, not realizing the Earth Power had been reflected, not noticing Cobalion approach from behind until Annie gave a strangled shout and she spun around, half-exclaiming, "Holy sh--!"

Their horns flashed past and, in those few moments she had to evade then, Noon reflected on the blade-like sharpness of their tips and concluded, then, that no matter how gnarled they looked from a distance, they worked just as well as any weapon would. Her first instinct was to flee, then, when she found herself staring down this Legend, this corrupted being capable of and willing to kill if need-be. But they were too fast to even permit her to feel fear. Cobalion lunged forward once more and she quick-stepped, feeling the world around her go in fast-motion as Agility sent her backwards and far away from the menacing horns. Cobalion, unperturbed, approached her again, determined to overwhelm her. The tactic was, unfortunately, working, as she brayed and lashed out with a sharp Stomp. The kick missed, and Annie tried next, fangs bared, but her reach was too little, and the Cobalion was now able to take advantage of the opening permitted, performing a powerful upward slice, collapsing Noon.

The Girafarig was thrown onto her side. The sounds of items clinking and crunching could be heard from the bags strapped to her. But, extraordinarily, Noon played off of the momentum, rolling onto her feet, albeit with a stagger, planting her hooves into the ground and determinedly bowing her head as if ready to charge. Her own horns danced with electricity. Her eyes were narrowed and she snorted boldly. Even Annie—

A knife whisked past her, causing her to abandon her audacious stance with a timid squeak. As the object planted itself in the earth beside her, a voice called out: "'ey! Tough guy! Over here with your horned self!"

Oh, no. Milos, no. No! The nasally voice was undeniable. During Noon's silent protests, her assaulter turned away from her and instead studied the Floatzel in the distance.

Their ginger fur badly matted, the bandages on their stomach threatening to peel, Milos still stood, contemptuous and confident, sneering across at Cobalion from the Fullmoon Highway. "That's right, you heard me! Don't tussle with her, you freak. Fight me if you want a real challenge! I'll take your dumb mug and plant it under a rock where it belongs."

"Oh jeez, Milos, what are you doing?" Silvia shot up immediately, and, predictably, he ignored her.

"Do you think this is the time to be bombastic?" Jyde snarled and he and Hyde both appeared to share the mutual horror as they whipped around to regard the reckless fourth member of Double-Take! behind them.

"C'mere!" And yet, Milos continued to taunt nonetheless. "Y' think you can take me out? I wanna see you try, Tarnish."

Cobalion narrowed their eyes. They were in full attention of the Floatzel, now, and Noon could anticipate the charge before it happened. "Kiki, save him!"

Even to Silvia, she was the smallest, the quickest. The shining Doduo popped up from her hiding spot amidst the largest patch of weeds and began to sprint. In her swiftness, she dissolved into a green streak, outpacing Cobalion by a formidable amount, and before the Legend could collide with the vulnerable Milos she had done it first. The impact sent them both sprawling, Milos onto his back, and when the Doduo struck his stomach he emitted a terrible shout of pain, but at least he was safe.

Noon, however, recognized in that moment he may not have even been touched, for Cobalion paid no attention to neither him nor the pet Doduo. They galloped past without a second parting glance and, in seconds, they appeared miles apart.

"Was that all a waste of effort?" she murmured aloud.

Jyde and Heckle stomped over to the wailing Floatzel and very confused-seeming Kiki, despite the vacancy in her eyes, as her heads weaved back and forth. "Probably," Heckle grunted. "We won't be able to catch up with it, anyways. So I suppose that was energy we could have used for the trek home."

"What an inconvenience," Jyde muttered.

"As if wallowing will make things better," she shot back.

"But where are they running—" Noon's question halted mid-sentence. "Home"; she seized up. "They're heading for the sanctuary." And as the revelation dawned on her further, she repeated, "Holy ****! They're heading for the sanctuary! We're screwed!"

The Girafarig carelessly threw off their supplies, scrambling with the expectant lack of grace of a hoofed animal through the many pockets. "Where's the Connect Orb? Where's the Connect Orb?" She was frantic, practically shaking with fear, but eventually the sphere rolled out onto the sand and promptly activated itself.

"Delphox Yuko! Delphox Yuko, please!" Noon begged. Her cries were interweaved with heavy, heaving panting. "A-are you there? A Legendary Pok—... A Legend's on its way to Fractured Heavens...!"

[LKWayvern]

(...I would've preferred it if I had been controlling Tarnish during the attack. You did a pretty good job, but there are certain motivations and powers unique to different Corrupteds that make them a bit different from normal Legendaries?)

Team Double-Take!
Outside Fractured Heavens Safehaven
ARPers: Gef


From its current appearance alone, it had once been beautiful.


It had once been muscular and majestic, well-fed and well-groomed, proud and powerful. A shining example of what the most powerful, dedicated, diligent, and honorable warriors and leaders could someday aspire to. The Pokemon’s equivalent of a knight in shining armor.


The years and the Corruption had, however, not been kind to it.


From a distance it appeared merely unclean and underfed. Up close, it was far worse.


It had obviously not been eating. Its skin was shrunken around its belly so it was rather easy to count its ribs, despite the fact it was obviously still extremely well muscled. In fact, it appeared to be overly muscled, the bulk getting in its own way sometimes. Its once beautiful cobalt fur had fallen out in tufts, exposing pale skin either stretched taut over muscles or shrunk and wrinkled over bones.


Those could be expected, to an extent. The other changes that had been brought upon the being once known as Cobalion were not.


It was armored now. Craggy, unnatural, rust red plates, encasing its feet like hooves, jagged around its back and shoulders and exploding in a spray of oversized needles along its spine and where a tail might be. Old engravings of Cobalion had depicted it with two sharp golden horns, but this one’s head was almost entirely encased in curving, cracked horns almost shaped like an overgrown helmet. Some points were dulled and of new use, but the largest were still in surprisingly good shape, and all had what could have been the remnants of blood. Peering out from those countless branching horns were eyes, gleaming like cold steel and practically overflowing with absolute hatred.


The strangest, eeriest, and most mocking aspect of ‘Tarnish’, however, was how clean it seemed to appear. Not a speck of mud or dust or bile was visible upon it. What little fur remained upon it was licked clean and straightened, and the creature stood as upright as it possibly could. Almost as if it was still a majestic and chivalrous knight in armor, despite all appearances to the contrary.


The fact it had been relentlessly hounding and pursuing Team Double-Take! without showing the slightest bit of pain, exhaustion, or mercy proved any remnants of a brave and noble warrior that had at any point existed to be entirely gone, however.


It deserved the name of Corrupted, through and through. It gave off a supernatural aura or pure wrongness, almost as if it was not a living creature but rather a hole in the fabric of the universe, a hole that led to someplace hellish.


From the direction Tarnish had fled in came an ear-splitting whine like rusted pieces of iron scraping against each other. And something very disturbing began to happen. Wickedly sharp blades of rusted armor, at least six feet high, encircled Team Double-Take!.


No place to go but up into the sky and down beneath the ground.


Tarnish leaped over the wall of iron and landed in a fashion that could be called the undead parody of gracefulness, positioning itself so its chin was up and legs apart but solidly rooted into the ground. It made eye contact with Kiki, narrowing the steely cobalt eyes at her. Kiki may feel rather… Strange. A paralyzing fear of the fallen Legendary might begin creeping up her legs.


Tarnish began making more sounds. It was speaking now, in a deep voice cracked from a lack of use. “...Why do you flee like children? Your actions, nay, your very lives are both futile and useless. You will meet death very soon. If you truly are the so-called warriors of this age, you should meet it with honor and dignity. Not pitiful wailing and crying,” it said.




RGS, FHS, LVS, PSS, CCS
Fractured Heavens Safehaven
ARPers: @Alphys, Morzone, Neo Emolga, The Nonexistent Tazz


Yuko’s Connect Orb suddenly chimed. She grabbed it, pressing her pawpads against the shimmering cerulean glassy surface. “Team Double-Take…” she muttered, before moving her fingers in a particular way. There was a burst of static, followed by a voice as it filled the room. “Delphox Yuko! Delphox Yuko, please! A-are you there? A Legendary Pok—... A Legend's on its way to Fractured Heavens...!”


Yuko stood staring at the orb for a moment, before turning to glare at Darkrai.


Darkrai held up his hands. “I knew nothing of this!”


Silver dashed towards Darkrai. “...A distraction. You confess to us, keeping us all here, while your comrades go and attack our teams while we’re enraptured by your stupid little sto--”


“They are not my comrades any longer!” Darkrai snapped, rather agitatedly.


Crownless held out a claw, summoning a stone claymore with his Stone Edge attack. Darkrai backed against the wall, the glow in his visible eye intensifying slightly.


“I-i speak the truth! Emolga, you could tell I was not lying before, I knew nothing of this! If I had known a Corrupted was on their way--” Darkrai paused, before trying to grab the Connect Orb out of Yuko’s paws.


Out of surprise, Yuko held onto it. “Hey! Unhand me you filthy--”


Darkrai muttered “Forgive me for this,” before wrenching it out of her paws. He held it close to his face. “Which Corrupted?” he asked. He looked up.


“Give that back!” Yuko growled.


“Stop. Fighting,” Crownless roared. An expectant hush fell over the Safehaven leaders. “...Right now, there is a Corrupted apparently headed towards us. I… don’t entirely trust Darkrai. However, I am going out to fight that Legendary. Silver and Lockdown, I expect you to come with me. And we are bringing Darkrai. He has claimed not to be a very good fighter, but he is currently the one who has the most information on Corrupteds. I won’t say no to more teams accompanying us.”


Crim huffed, flicking her tails. “...Knight and I will join you. Team Camelot, if you would please come as well?”

[Gef]

((Whoops. Time to improvise, then.))

Team Double-Take! (http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?10698-PMD-Neverending-Nightmare(SU)&p=211538&viewfull=1#post211538)
Location: Fullmoon Highway...?
@LKWayvern — "Tarnish", Darkrai, Yuko
With a wretched whine, the entire world shifted. The landscape transformed; the sky took onto itself the cloudy, crimson tint of the Wall, the dust storm disappeared altogether. The prairie grass returned to the roadsides of the Fullmoon Highway and Team Double-Take! was thusly left dazed and bewildered, just as battered, dirtied, and exhausted as before, and yet nothing seemed the same as it had been before. The road still stretched eternally towards the horizon but they swore the blocky shape of their safehaven had moved closer, clearly discernible against the Emerald Mountains' backdrop now, and as Noon, Jyde and Heckle, and Silvia all ogled where they'd ended up, they realized where the earth had split apart in the earlier assault was not directly under their feet. Of course, they also recognized the structures whose brain-melting scream had snapped them out of the most elaborate of trances.

"By gods." Noon's two able teammates whirled around to goggle her instead when the strongly-forbidden exclamation fell from her lips. The Girafarig ignored their shock, ignored everything, only stared ahead with the same vacancy as the three had sworn Cobalion exemplified, but now the Legend had disappeared before their eyes, along with everything they had thought they'd understood.

"What the hell is going on?" the Girafarig spat without any regret.

"What is that?" And they were all ogling something else, now, at the sound of Silvia's shout. Her outstretched, gesturing arm tilted their attention towards a most abominable creature, throwing up gravel as it launched itself over its own jagged enclosure. The thing was made of so many entangled, incoherent points and spikes. It was dotted with blood. It had hate-filled eyes. It looked like a feral Mighteyena had managed to become impaled on the branches of the world's most nihilistic tree. The horror was an unaccountable amalgam of everything conventionally dangerous and edgy. It had landed inches before the crumpled form of Milos, still whining; the collision with Kiki had inflamed his stomach wound. The pet Dodou herself seemed entranced with the homely creation, her beady eyes expanding as if it had induced some variant of hypnosis upon her. Her legs appeared to clam up and the little bird Pokemon showed no intention to leave her designated spot.

There was nothing else that could truly be said about the monstrosity, nothing that couldn't be communicated through simply experiencing its existence, so Noon could only offer up an obvious observation: "That's not Cobalion."

"You think it made up everything...? Made us experience all of that mess but, like, it was never real...?" Silvia clearly couldn't wrap her mind around the concept as even her own suggestion caused her to bring her digit-less hands up towards her head. It was as if the idea pained her.

"Probably." Noon's answer was simple. "Honestly, who cares?" And then she began escalating. "What's it matter, anyhow? This cluster**** could be a damn psychic, they could be a damn telepathic wizard, who cares? Nothing makes sense!" She threw up gravel and her teammates watched, entirely without understanding now, as even the Noon they knew had vanished. She was infuriated, she was foulmouthed, she was hopeless.

Silvia, truly, had lost her usual optimism as well. The odds, to her, and to the raging Noon as well, seemed insurmountable—stacked against them the moment they had aggravated a Legend when they could hardly coordinate a successful, collaborative assault—, not to mention entirely inexplicable. The Aipom turned away from the dour situation, her gaze flickering desperately between the minute gaps of the sharpened, raw shards of metal enclosing the tight area of which had earlier, they all recalled, been tens of feet wide. In the grassy landscape beyond, the same round bundle sat, its identity obscured by the cloth laid atop it, and Silvia reached out an arm, yearning for it, the only sense of familiarity left.

"And who the **** are you?" The Connect Orb came alive with a warped, ghastly image, one with floating white hair and blue eyes, the stranger's actual face black as night, filling the entire mirror-like surface of the contraption as they asked, "Which Corrupted?"

"Like I'd tell you! Like I know you!" Noon wanted to scream, demand for Delphox Yuko, but a sudden, sobering realization that Yuko might not be real either struck her at that moment and instead she yowled—"Aauuugh!"—her hind leg lashing out to send the sphere flying. It crashed against one of the erected metal formations and there was a splintering sound like broken glass.

"What the ****!" And she repeated the phrase so many times, so many times, until her vision began to fail her as it had before, until the words could no longer emerge from her throat as if the returned migraine was strangling her long neck. Noon could hardly breathe from the agony. Almost unwillingly, she staggered, and then her knees folded in upon themselves and the Girafarig began bawling from her kneeling, conceding position.

"...why do you flee like children?"

Their leader stepped forward. "We never ran." Hyde's voice was even, venomous. "And we never claimed to be 'warriors', either!"

"And we won't even think about fleeing now!" Jyde roared. "We'll demolish you without even knowing what or who you are! We'll destroy you, end your meaningless existence! If we're not warriors yet, we'll become ones today!"

"Stop!" Through her weeping, the Girafarig wailed. "Just stop! We can't fight them! We can't fight anymore!" Her neck drooped so that her head laid sobbing upon the uneven, graveled surface of the highway.

On the outskirts of the circle, the Connect Orb laid, dead and grey.